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Behold: Jasper Johns’ secret artistic hideaway!
Now a Stony Point, NY, property in Rockland County — once home to America’s greatest living artist — is back on the market for $750,000. The charming two-bedroom, one-bath home — a converted post-and-beam barn plus an addition, including a studio, built by Johns — sits on 1.29 wooded acres.
This is where Johns, now 93, found inspiration, privacy and artistic community when he lived here from 1973 to 1987. Merce Cunningham and John Cage would often visit with him, and they’d hang out at a picnic table on the property, according to reports.
The property was briefly listed for $600,000 in May, but it was quickly pulled off the market due to overwhelming demand. The modest price adjustment reflects the nature of the two-story, wood-shingled home, which has just one bath, plus a garage studio apartment, brokers say.
The main home, around 2,100 square feet, also features Johns’ former studio.
The two bedrooms, bathroom and studio are on the main level, while the kitchen, dining room and living room are on the lower level.
Johns expanded the home by adding four floor-to-ceiling glass garage doors, and two of them open the space to the outdoors, creating a magical treehouse feel.
The original portion of the home was a converted barn with preserved beams, barn-board walls, wide-plank and tile floors. There’s also a fireplace, built-in shelves, window banks, a wooden deck and a gravel terrace with a fire pit. A separate studio with a bath, kitchenette and a detached wooden garage may also have served as another studio.
Johns bought the property for $48,000 in 1973 from Adele Earnest and Cordelia Hamilton, co-founders of the American Folk Art Museum. He now lives between his 170-acre estate in Sharon, Conn., and the Caribbean island of Saint Martin.
The barn, at 160 W. Main St., was built around 1840 and converted to a home in the 1930s. Perched on a slope overlooking Cedar Pond Brook, the property is surrounded by stone walls and terraced gardens. Inside, the home’s essence is simplicity, with an emphasis on natural beauty and light.
The lower level boasts hand-glazed pale turquoise brick, and a wood-paneled dining room, which comes with a gas fireplace. The kitchen also has open shelving to display plates and bowls, according to reports. It’s not clear if these designs, including the hand glazed tiles, were from Johns or the owners before him.
The seller is the journalist and author Stephanie Gutmann, who bought the property in 2013 for $380,000 with her late husband, the journalist and author William Tucker, a New York Post columnist whose work also appeared in Harper’s, the Atlantic, the American Spectator and the New Republic.
The listing brokers are Jacob P. Matthews and Jody Atkinson of Nyack-based Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty.
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