OSCEOLA

A Roche & Tilden designed Berkshire "Summer Cottage" Mansion on prime Cliffwood Street in the very heart of Lenox

Magnificent Original Public Rooms

An original piazza stretching nearly the length of the home

Eight bedrooms, ten fireplaces, seven-thousand square feet

Set on one and a half acres

outdoor pool & indoor counter-current lap pool

incredible original details intact

Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts

OSCEOLA  - An original 1889 Colonial Revival Berkshire "Cottage" on Cliffwood Street in Lenox.  One of just five Rotch & Tilden designed Berkshire mansions.  The Pittsfield Sun newspaper perfectly described the home in 1889 as "one of the handsomest in Lenox... rich in carved cornices and capitals and presents a wonderfully attractive front; The interior of the house is a line of spacious rooms opening into each other with a grand hall and big fireplaces... everybody who sees the house is delighted"  

Seven bedrooms, ten fireplaces and over 7,000 square feet of spaciousness, elegance and wonderful original details. Set on 1½ acres in the heart of Lenox with many fine amenities including an outdoor pool, indoor lap pool, even an Aga in the expansive kitchen.  You enter the home through a most impressive front door into the true entry hall.  In winter a crackling fire welcomes guests.  The carved staircase climbs to the upper floors.  Little imagination is needed to place yourself back in time 120 years ago with the inlaid wood floors, and grand ceilings. 

Directly in front of you wide double doors draw you into the library, the de facto core of the home. The wide and deep piazza, or covered porch, runs nearly the entire width of the home and overlooks the large back yard with its in-ground pool.  To the right of the library is the ‘drawing room’ or living room.  There are two nearly floor to ceiling mirrors, the third fireplace, and large windows to let the light stream in.  To the left of the library is the stunning oval dining room.  The original china cabinets remain, as does the large fireplace, and carved wainscoting.  beyond the oval dining room, which also opens to the wide piazza, is an original butler’s pantry and the large kitchen. 

The focal point of the kitchen is the beloved Aga range.  There is a large cooking area, office area, and the walls separating the kitchen and the original servant’s hall have been removed so the room is large enough for both a dining table and sitting area.   

Above stairs, the second floor boasts three master suites each with a full bath ensuite. Two of the bedrooms have a sitting area with a fireplace, and the third suite has a separate sitting room with a fireplace.   The wing above the kitchen once housed four servant’s bedrooms, but now is a self-contained suite of rooms with a bedroom with sitting area, office or large closet, sitting room and a full bath.   On the third level of the home are 3 additional bedroom suites, each with their own full bath, and the remainder of the ten fireplaces.   

On the lower level of the home there is a generous amount of storage, three relatively new natural gas boilers, a one car garage, and an indoor counter-current lap pool with spa.  Directly outside the indoor lap pool is a wood deck between both pools.  The large yard also has a gazebo, perennial gardens, putting green, and large areas of lawn.  

This magnificent home, was first known as ‘Osceola House’, then ‘The Castle” and most recently the ‘Cliffwood Inn’.    To fully understand this Berkshire “cottage’ mansion, it is important to go back to the design and construction of this home.  The home was designed by the prominent Boston architectural firm of Rotch & Tilden.  The Colonial Revival Cottage was built for Edward Livingston and his wife Sarah Pollack.  He was a member of the New York Livingstons.  His great uncle, Robert R. Livingston was one of the founding fathers of the United States, and was the first Chancellor of New York.   As Minister to France under James Monroe, he was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  While Livingston was Minister he met Robert Fulton and together they operated the first successful steam vessel on the Hudson River, the “Clermont”, in 1807.  After the Livingstons purchased the property on Cliffwood Street they had an earlier home moved and construction began in 1888.   

Like many summer residents, the Livingstons often rented their Lenox ‘Cottage’, and finally sold it in 1921.  Arthur Rotch was important to the development of architectural training at both M.I.T. and Harvard, and is known for the “Rotch Travelling Scholarship”, founded through the American Institute of Architects.  Rotch & Tilden designed four other Berkshire “Cottages’ in Lenox including Ventfort Hall, Frelinghuysen Cottage, Belvoir Terrace and Thistlewood.   

Osceola has many typical Colonial Revival features with a strong Italianate influence.  This is a singular, generational property with a rich heritage, extraordinary original details, and the elegance within the home is matched by the elegance of Cliffwood Street of Lenox.

Simply an astonishing home, agressively priced

Exclusively Available from wm. Brockman Real Estate

$1,500,000

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