The Five Towns · New York · By appointment
The private estate ledger of the Five Towns, kept to Lawrence’s standard. Shown by invitation. Sold without ceremony.
The finest houses between the parkway and the bay have never seen a listing portal. They pass quietly — over lunch, through an attorney’s letter, on the strength of a name vouched for. The Registry is where that happens now: one private ledger for all five villages, kept to the standard of Lawrence, where the standard was set.
Seven properties are entered this season — two in the Lawrence flagship chapter, then one from each of the five villages. None carry a sign at the gate.
Where the ledger opens — back-Lawrence acreage, and the two houses that set its bar.
Back Lawrence, off Ocean Avenue
A brick Georgian of 1926 behind a quarter mile of copper beech. The rotunda alone has settled more than one negotiation before coffee was poured.
Offered in excess of $9,750,000
The Causeway approach
Granite and slate in the Norman manner, its gardens parterred to the balustrade. Summer here is measured in pool lengths and second sets.
Offered in excess of $7,400,000
Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett, Inwood — traced in brass, sealed in gilt.
Bayfront, on Bannister Bay
The house turns its back to the road and its every window to the water. A catboat has ridden at this mooring, in one hull or another, since 1931.
Price upon inquiry
Off Cedarhurst Avenue, behind the beech hedge
Tudor brick and leaded glass, five minutes’ walk from shops it pretends not to know about. The library was panelled in 1934 and has not been argued with since.
Offered in excess of $4,600,000
The high ground above the club
A center-hall colonial of 1911 whose south lawn runs unfenced to the twelfth fairway. The verandah takes its coffee facing the morning rounds.
Offered in excess of $5,200,000
Hewlett Bay Park, where the streets keep no sidewalks
Shingle and stone in the parkland enclave, its gardens descending in three terraces toward the water. The greenhouse predates the village’s incorporation.
Offered in excess of $6,800,000
Above the country club, facing the harbor
The westernmost entry in the ledger, on the rise above the course where Bobby Jones took his first Open in 1923. The sunsets have not declined since.
Offered in excess of $4,100,000
Write to us. Say who you are, and who will speak for you. Discretion is assumed on both sides, so there is no need to request it.
We confirm quietly — proof of funds through counsel, never over the telephone. Most inquiries end here, politely.
You are received at the gates at the appointed hour. No lockboxes, no open houses. The family is never home.