James Cagney’s Former Martha’s Vineyard Estate for Sale
A rare Martha’s Vineyard estate that once belonged to Hollywood legend James Cagney is currently on the market for $8.96 million. At 70 acres, the property “could be the last time a real estate asset of this scale ever becomes available on Martha’s Vineyard,” according to the listing on Realtor.com.
The island, situated about a 40-minute ferry ride outside of Boston, is also home to such modern day A-listers as the Obamas, Spike Lee, and David Letterman. Cagney, however, purchased land there before it was fashionable to do so. Back in the 1930s, the actor visited Martha’s Vineyard and fell in love with its wide-open spaces and proximity to the water. According to a 2011 feature in Martha’s Vineyard magazine, Cagney bought the property in 1936 and spent his summers there farming, tending to horses, pigs, cows, chickens, and turkeys. He wrote in his 1976 memoir, Cagney by Cagney, that he loved the place “beyond words” because it offered the sort of peace and freedom he couldn’t quite find in Hollywood. “Moreover,” he wrote, “the taxes were thirty-nine dollars a year, which made it an ideal place to land if the movie business ever dropped me.”
The James Cagney estate consists of a farmhouse, a guesthouse, a studio, and an antique barn. There are open meadows where more structures could potentially be erected, and some of the older buildings are ripe for renovation. According to Mansion Global, the main house still retains much of its original details, including yellow pine floors. Of particular interest: The property also comes with deeded beach access and a pond.
Cagney owned the parcel until just a few years before his death in 1986; his family sold it in the 1980s, and it was at one point used as a commune. Then, in late 2012, Boston restaurateurs Patrick Lyons and Sean Gildea bought the estate for $4.1 million; their original plan was to build vacation homes on the property, but the friends and business partners later abandoned the plans and put the James Cagney estate back on the market in 2017.
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
