Publisher's Notebook: Back from the Hamptons? Try it in the Fall.
Over Labor Day, your publisher joined some other real estaters in East Hampton and visited someone else from the industry, who has a remarkable sideline. Antonella Bertello grew up in a commercial real estate family in Peru, and now works as a Cochran Group residential broker in NYC and the Hamptons. But the greatest property she's handled is one she bought herself, in 2004 and converted into a seven-room inn. If you've driven through East Hampton, you've seen it, on Main Street near the Town Pond. It's called Baker House 1650 after Thomas Baker, an Englishman who bought it 335 years ago and made it into a combination lodging, bar, town hall, and religious gathering spot. (Technically, it was built in 1648 by Captain Howe, who had brought Puritans across the sound from Connecticut to establish the town, but "Howe House" didn't have the right ring, Antonella admits.) With passionate vision and craftsmanship, she made it into what Conde Nast and others say is one of the great little inns of America.
Her theme: making you feel at home, with features like an honor bar, full cable TV so you have any option you're used to, a daily sumptuous farm-to-table brunch only available to guests…
…two outdoor pools and an indoor large spa pool (in an area where many inns have none, in light of the beaches steps away), and an herb garden where you might catch a glimpse of the chef cutting a scallion. It's very English, reflecting a long stretch in the 1800s when many revered British style and even wanted to change the town's name to Maidstone.
It's got five rooms in the main house, done in a William Morris arts and craft style with the likes of hand-painted wallpaper. But she also acquired a carriage house, above, which she converted into three 1,200 to 1,400 SF suites with slate floors and barn doors. When Antonella was a kid, her dad used to take her around in Peru and tell her his projects were her brothers and sisters. This project is her baby, and it's beautiful.
