Bridgehampton - 10/13/07

 

  • Arlene
  • Ron
  • Phyllis
  • Faith
  • Christine
  • George
  • Christine
  • Ron
  • Phyllis
  • Faith
  • Ann Marie
  • Arlene
George & Christine, after the ride, raring to go more.
And so we did (ride more).  This is the biggest house in the United States.  This is roughly the first half of the house.  For info about this house, see the bottom of this page. (here)

 

 

This is the other half of the "big house".
The beach near the "big house".
 
 
 

The story of the "big house":

 

Ira Rennert (born 1934 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Humvee and Renco Group tycoon, philanthropist, and supposed recluse whose various companies have been accused of wreaking environmental havoc in the U.S. and abroad. The publicity-shy, self-made billionaire riled New York's tony Hamptonites by building a beach front home in Sagaponack, New York considered one of the largest occupied residential compounds in America. Real estate magnates claim if this house was ever put on the market it would be valued the most expensive home globally.

His 100,000 square foot (9,000 m²) home, dubbed Fair Field (named after the adjoining body of water, Fairfield Pond), faces the Atlantic Ocean and is perched on 63 acres. The buildings have an Italianate facade, 29 bedrooms, and 39 bathrooms. A dozen chimneys tower from the Mediterranean-style tile roof. The formal dining room stretches 91 feet in length. That's three feet shorter than a basketball court—another amenity Fair Field has, along with a bowling alley, a pair each of tennis and squash courts, and a $150,000 hot tub, according to building plans and other documents filed with Southampton town hall. Its property taxes in 2007 were $397,559.00.

The house outraged locals, who originally claimed Rennert planned to use it as everything from a spa to a hotel to a religious retreat. Rennert denied such allegations, and the local paper recently wrote an apology acknowledging that the original allegations were wrong and that the house did not change the character of Sagaponack which was undergoing its own cultural change regardless of Rennert.

Ira Rennert was awarded the The Awful Truth Man of Year Award in 1999 by filmmaker Michael Moore, who accused Rennert of being an epic polluter.