Dick Cavett's Montauk Estate Back On Market With Price Cut

MONTAUK, NY — Cavett's Cove, the Montauk estate owned by talk show host Dick Cavett and his wife Martha Rogers Cavett, returned to the market on Wednesday with a "new price, perspective and Hamptons leadership," according to Corcoran's Gary DePersia.

Now on the market for $48.5 million with Corcoran’s Gary DePersia and Karen Kelley, Cavett's Cove, located at 176 Deforest Road in Montauk, is a 20-acre oceanfront with spectacular views in all directions and a private 900' beach.

The home was first listed by Corcoran for $62 million on May 31, 2017.

The 7000+/- square-foot, six-bedroom, five-bath and three-story house has been an iconic part of the Hamptons and Montauk canvas for more than 135 years, DePersia said.

"It is the easternmost of seven homes built in the early 1880s that became part of the Montauk Association, later known as the Seven Sisters, forming a cluster of homes for wealthy friends of Brooklyn industrialist Arthur Benson who purchased thousands of acres of Montauk several years earlier," DePersia said. "The Cavett residence was originally designed by McKim, Mead & White and sited by Frederick Law Olmstead of Central Park fame for wealthy businessman Alexander E. Orr. Cavett bought the home in 1968 from attorney Harrison Tweed, its second owner, after renting it for a number of summers."

The home tragically burned to the ground in 1997, in an accident possibly linked to a roof repair, leaving only the chimney standing, and destroying years of family heirlooms and antiques, DePersia said. Cavett and his late wife Carrie Nye vowed to build an exact replica in its place, not allowing any updates or even to fix any mistakes of the original home.

"With no plans remaining of the homes, the couple relied on photographs, their own memories and even unorthodox methods such measuring the height of their pet dogs from a photo of them jumping up on a windowsill," DePersia said.

The reconstruction of the home was the subject of a 2003 documentary, “From the Ashes: The Life and Times of Tick Hall,” which went into detail about the use of “forensic architecture and archeology” by Wank Adams Slavin Associates, known for their preservation work.

In the new build, Cavett added a pond and a pool out of sight of the residence. In 2008, Cavett sold 77 acres around the residence for $18 million; that land acreage became public parkland, preventing developers from purchasing the sought-after property.

Guests in the home have included Muhammad Ali, Sir Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Alec Baldwin and Woody Allen, DePersia said.

To view the full listing, click here.

Photo courtesy of Chris Foster.