Absence does make the heart grow fonder — especially in the case of a pair of heartsick homeowners.
For Coral Gables residents Jim and Deirdre Critchlow, the sale of their home eight years ago never stopped pulling at their heartstrings. So they recently rekindled their love affair with the iconic l920s pink estate — and bought it back.
The Critchlows first sold the home in 2003 to Amy and Ken Sussman after a lengthy restoration project grew tedious. Amy, enamored after seeing the property on a historic home tour, spoke with her husband about buying it and the home soon changed hands — on a handshake.
Epitomizing Palm Beach elegance and overlooking the Rivera Golf Course, the estate, located at 4515 Santa Maria St. — part of a neighborhood once home to several Miami Dolphins players from the “Perfect Season” — was designed by renowned architect Jorge Hernandez. Florida Travel + Life magazine featured the property in August 2008, commenting that, “the striking, columned Georgian Colonial is so steeped in Southern charm you can almost smell the magnolias.”
The interiors, designed Bob Biederman, radiate with a sunny palette of yellows and corals. Dining room walls are silk-covered, the foyer has black and white marble floor and custom-built book cases in the living room complement the Regency-style furniture. A rose garden and formal terrace with a fountain draw friends and family outdoors, as does an adjoining carriage house.
A top-producing Realtor with Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell (EWM) Realtors, one of the nation’s largest residential real estate firms and owned by Warren Buffet’s HomeServices of America, Sussman sold the Critchlows back their former home recently after a neighbor half-kiddingly asked Deirdre to move back so they could raise their grandchildren together, as they had done with their children. Deirdre took the neighbor up on the idea and, within an hour, was making an offer.
“While the home was not on the market, the offer was too good to pass up and we share in the joy of the Critchlows,” said Sussman, who handled both sides of the deal through EWM. The closing is June 30. Sale price was not disclosed.
“It’s a very special home and it could not be going back to a nicer family,” Sussman added.
The Sussmans now are looking at homes on another famous Coral Gables street, Hardee Road, in the French Village.
For additional information, visit www.ewm.com.
My grandparents lived here for a very long time when it was still relatively in it's original condition. I do not understand some of the renovations they have done. You can see the original shape of the home here: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/37609
i like it.
the writer's prose makes me kinda nauseous.