CAPE MAY — Beach Avenue lives up to its promise in myriad ways. The southernmost stretch of the famous Beach Drive winds past some of the most recognizable homes on the East Coast — from the surfer-haunted Cove to the wilds of Poverty Beach jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.
No one looking back at the cape from the water could resist the thought of sailing straight back to the door of one of these massive, stately residences. Well, with this week’s House of the Week, that’s entirely possible: the condo at 1513 Beach Ave. offers the most comfortable way to own beachfront property.
From its private entrance and back deck, Apartment 1 of this starkly impressive cedar-shingled guardian of the coastline offers the best of opposing desires: privacy and shared amenities on a grand scale.
The building offers not just a massive rooftop terrace overlooking the ocean and the entire island, but a shared front porch surrounded by wild evergreens twisting toward the sun, and also a shared library on the second floor.
This flexible space provides one more way of enjoying the community within the building itself, although if one wants to socialize, they can hardly do better than living a short walking distance from the center of the historic district.
For those times when one wants quiet contemplation, the location between Brooklyn and Baltimore avenues on the eastern side of the island is temptingly close to the wild spaces surrounding Poverty Beach.
Hiking, swimming, beach combing, sunrise-appreciating are just a few steps away from the raised first floor overlooking the sands.
The unit is bordered on three sides by the front porch, a solarium and a private deck.
The solarium offers dining space, a place to paint or relax, possibly a spare bedroom, or just a pet- and child-friendly playroom with tiled floors and dark-stained wood wainscoting.
The long, bright room is heated and cooled so it can be used year-round, connecting the shared front porch to the private back deck.
That deck opens off the back bedroom in the very farthest corner of the unit, overlooking the backyard and carriage house. As with the front porch, a short flight of stairs connects the raised main floor of the building to the street level and paved parking spaces in the rear.
Inside the unit proper, a door off the central hall from the main entrance opens to a great room surrounded by windows, providing views and sunlight. A small closet waits by the door, and one large window looks out over the front porch to the beach below.
The great room sets the tone for the entire unit, grounded by gleaming hardwood floors and a gas fireplace with a huge old-fashioned hearth and mantel, mirror overhead and carved wood details including columns. (Columns are a repeating motif in this building, which is sometimes known as “Columns by the Sea.”)
The floor plan could be as grand or as informal as the furniture and arrangements chosen by the owner, but with crown molding and dark-stained wood all around it certainly leans toward the formal and awe-inspiring.
The vintage sense of proportion and style continues into the unit’s kitchen, where cabinets are made to resemble the highly polished craftsmanship of yesteryear’s wood-paneled elegance, reaching from floor to ceiling. A matching breakfast bar hides some additional cabinets and most of the stainless-steel appliances, allowing one to dream that they have time traveled without giving up any of the modern conveniences.
The conveniences are all there, even though some are cleverly hidden away from the rest of the great room: the refrigerator, microwave and oven taking up the back wall and the dishwasher nestled next to the farmhouse sink under countertops that look like heavily veined gray marble: a nice, soft contrast to the deep cherry chestnut stain of the wood throughout.
(There seems to be no consensus online about wood stains anymore, especially when one gets to the darker tones: one man’s mahogany is another brand’s deep walnut. Fear not; this is the deep, dark red stain that a sea captain would surround his study with, the better to play up the blues in his oil paintings of naval battles and the gleaming brass of a sextant.)
Two bedrooms await in the back of this unit, accompanied by one full bathroom and a powder room closest to the front. The two bathrooms have been updated with fresh tile and vintage-style fixtures.
The bedrooms are almost identical except one has more windows and opens up to the back deck.
Outside, it is easily large enough for a seating area or hammock and could be home to a little container garden with stunning results due to the western afternoon sun that so many plants prefer beaming over the island to this little nook.
Any other questions of privacy on this deck, or the bedroom next to it, are answered by the height of both off the ground, as this side of the house seems even higher than the deceptively curved front stairs. Need storage? Check out the basement.
This unit would make an excellent beach headquarters for those ready to size down and start living their beach-house dream; on the other hand, it would make a stunningly original rental property.
The carriage house behind the main building has a lengthy record of year-round renters so it’s not out of reach to say this place could be a fantastic investment property. Whichever path is taken, this first unit is ready to tackle it elegantly and with abundant advantages.
