Perched atop Weehawken’s historic King’s Bluff, 25 Kingswood Rd. is available for purchase by anyone looking to spend $3.45 million on a 4,150 sq. ft., three-bedroom home with panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.
The house is part of a historic area named for the King family, one of the oldest and wealthiest families in the U.S. The family came to Weehawken in 1832. Rufus King fought in the American Revolution, and his son James Gore King helped to write the U.S. Constitution and served as minister to Great Britain.
The Kingswood property, listed by Sharon Shahinian of Halstead Property, currently belongs to a bachelor who owns a business in the scrap metal industry.
Those who enter the two-story Mediterranean-style home are greeted by a striking, imported Italian black-and-white checkered marble floor lit by a stained glass window that stretches out toward a grand spiral staircase.
To the left of the foyer is a modern kitchen replete with SubZero refrigerator, Wolf commercial stove, two wine refrigerators, an onyx floor, and a sink-embedded cooking island.
Just beyond the dining room (which currently houses an Andy Warhol portrait of Mick Jagger) is a Zen meditation room looking out onto the Hudson and warmed by the light that streams through a wall of windows. The house has mahogany hardwood floors throughout and woodburning fireplaces in the living room and bedroom.
To complement your dinner, the basement holds a wrought-iron-gated wine cellar, right next to the massage room that opens out onto the meticulously landscaped terrace.
The terrace has a Zen-like feel with its koi pond, rock gardens, imported statues, and infinity pool that seems to spill down into the Hudson River. It also has a built-in bar, grill, and seating area for entertaining.
This house has history
Several of the homes in the area date back to the King family.
The original King mansion, which was eventually destroyed by a fire, was a popular gathering place for many political and artistic greats, including 14th and 19th Secretary of State Daniel Webster and author Charles Dickens. It was located directly above the site of the famous 1804 duel in which Colonel Aaron Burr shot General Alexander Hamilton.
Shortly after the fire, in 1880, the son of James Gore King, Archibald Gracie, built another mansion called “Bluff,” which was also burned in a fire. James Gore King built a third mansion for his daughter, Carolina, called “Haxhurst” (which is now the name of road the Weehawken Library currently stands on — spelling slightly changed to “Hauxhurst”).
After the Kings left Weehawken in the early 1890s, the land was parceled out into building lots and later bought by New York realtor Hugh N. Kamp.