Either-Or: A Needham Estate vs. an Ultramodern Lexington Pad
It’s amazing what a few miles will do to the market. This month, we compare a Tuscan-inspired suburban home with a contemporary creation just 18 miles north.
Photo by Tom Jones/Drone Home Media via Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage (Needham); Photo by Joan Pearsall/Best View Imaging via Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty (Lexington)
| 35 Southfield Court, Needham | Sale Price: $2,000,000 | 8 Bird Hill Road, Lexington |
| $2,500,000 129 9,455 square feet 4 4.5 | Asking Price Days on Market Size Bedrooms Bathrooms | $2,195,000 154 4,027 square feet 4 3 |
It’s hard to believe these two recently sold suburban properties were built just six years and 18 miles apart. The first, a nearly 10,000-square-foot stucco-and-stone stunner developed in 2000, is among a small village of Needham homes inspired by the architect’s few years living in Tuscany. Inside, classical elements such as fluted columns and a pink-marble-framed fireplace add elegance to the living and dining rooms.
Drive 25 minutes north to Lexington’s Six Moon Hill neighborhood, and you’ll go from old-world style to new. Nicknamed the “Big Dig House,” this ultramod abode was built in 2006 using material repurposed from the infamous I-93 overhaul (see: its steel-cable-suspended staircase). Though less than half the size of the Needham manse, it offers its new owners six stories of living space—crowned by a roof-deck hot tub. One thing the homes have in common? Both went for under asking and spent more than four months on the market, proving that distinctive architectural styles like these require just the right buyer.
