F. Lee Bailey’s old home in Marshfield hits market for $899,900
The helicopter hangar is now a garage for sporty cars, but the former lawyer’s influence on the home remains. Get the latest real estate news at realestate.boston.com.
The hangar F. Lee Bailey built for his helicopter is now a garage big enough for seven sporty cars. The indoor pool — Bailey said it was probably the best place to catch a New England blizzard — needs a new liner, but it’s still there.
There are other touches by the famous/infamous disbarred in Massachusetts lawyer still apparent throughout this house, even though he hasn’t owned it since 1985. There is, for example, still the mirrored ceiling in the space Bailey designated as a lower-level guest bedroom.
“What the hell do you think I put it in there for? Don’t be naïve,’’ Bailey said of the mirror. “I didn’t put in there so people could check their toenails!’’
Bailey said that he had offices at the Marshfield house but that none of his most famous clients met with him there. Bailey, who was on O.J. Simpson’s defense team and defended fugitive newspaper heiress Patty Hearst and the “Boston Strangler,’’ lives in Maine.
The Marshfield house still has an A-frame roof with large triangular windows that together create the most visually dramatic architectural feature of the expansive home. From the two-car garage on the left side of the house, a walkway leads to a wooden deck that lines most of the rear and provides access to the largest room in the house. This space, found under that A-frame, is a rectangle with a central column clad in stone, two working fireplaces, and broad wooden support beams painted a shiny white.
To the right is the updated kitchen, which sports the original solid-wood cabinetry (painted white), stainless-steel appliances, and a double-decker counter with seating for six and a separate L-shaped counter with a double sink that lines two walls.
To the left from the entry is a long hall with five bedrooms running off it and a shower-only bath with two vanities that have white bowls and dark wood cabinetry. Flooring is tile.
The flooring in the hallway and bedrooms is hardwood.
The hall ends at the master suite, where the flooring is mahogany. The bedroom offers five closets with built-in shelving and a door to a deck that overlooks the expansive, mostly flat yard.
The master bath features a marble-topped double vanity, a water closet, and a deep whirlpool tub. A shower has been roughed out. The focal point of the bathroom is the working fireplace, which is set in a wall covered with stone.
From the master, a rear stairwell connects to the lower level, which houses the indoor pool, the bedroom with the mirrored ceiling (now used as an exercise area), a steam shower, and a large family room with knotty-pine paneling. The level also offers a full bath, a laundry room, and a red-brick wet bar surrounded by pecky cypress paneling that is original to the home. A wood-burning stove is built into a brick recess.
Across the wide lawn is a built-in pool (also in need of a new liner) and a pool house with a one-bedroom apartment currently renting for $1,550 a month, according to the listing agent, Nancy O’Brien of Boston Connect Real Estate in Pembroke, who also owns the home.
An open house will be held noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, June 3, and every Sunday until sold.
The lot is 2.47 acres.
This house can be bundled with an adjoining listing at 78 Earldor Circle, according to O’Brien.
Follow John R. Ellement on Twitter @JREbosglobe. Send listings to [email protected]. Please note: We do not feature unfurnished homes and will not respond to submissions we won’t pursue. Subscribe to our newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.
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