Kennebunkport Riverfront Landmark gets Makeover

BEFORE	AFTER
Before
Back Patio Before	Back Patio
Breakfast Nook Before	Breakfast Nook After
Kitchen Before	Kitchen After
Kitchen Before	Kitchen After
Fireplace (non-working, no chimney above)	Gas Fireplace (vents thru basement)
Living room Before	Living room After
Area that became Captains Quarters	New Captains Quarters
River Room Before	River Room After
	Dining Room with new Gold Ceiling
	Dining Room with new Gold Ceiling and Red Walls

Kennebunkport Riverfront Landmark gets Makeover

It was love at first sight for Heather when she first toured 82 Ocean on the Kennebunk River. The same could not be said for her husband Greg Burke.

Heather loved the graceful riverside porch, the elegant crown moldings and hardwood floors, and water views out every window - even from the triangular windows in the eaves of the three-story home. The 1880 summer cottage had a charm all its own. But Greg hated the tight galley style kitchen, the lack of a proper master bedroom, and he couldn’t believe the brick fireplace flu in the formal living room had been capped off and rendered useless.

The couple had moved to Kennebunkport in 1993 and rented a seaside home on Ocean Ave with their two young children. Now, seventeen years later – they found themselves in a position to finally buy waterfront property. This historic home on Ocean Ave, overlooking the Kennebunk River from the wrap around front porch and the tidal Chick’s Cove from the back, kept popping up in their searches with their realtor at Kennebunk Beach Realty.

Greg agreed to the acquisition in October 2009 with the caveat that they immediately redesign the kitchen (a proper master bedroom above became a bonus). Just days before the scheduled demolition of the non-working fireplace, he discovered a gas fireplace insert that vented down and out thru the basement to restore the brick hearth in the living room to working order.

The couple began the transformation of the home into an old meets new luxury waterfront home. The new kitchen, built on the original 1880 cottage footprint, now features wide plank pine floors that were reclaimed from an 1850’s midcoast Maine farmhouse. Brick and warm colors were infused to create an authentic old world atmosphere. However modern stainless steel appliances, rare Delicatus granite counters, surround sound stereo, and an indoor outdoor see-thru fireplace (the first of its kind in Maine) were installed. French doors open from the window-lined kitchen to a re-vamped back cove patio.

A spacious master suite was added over the new kitchen, under Kennebunkport’s strict 30% expansion rule. A third gas fireplace and a state of the art picture frame AC unit brought modern comforts to the “Captain’s Quarters” which resembles the Captain’s Room in the stern of a ship with bowed windows.

Historic colors were used to repaint the interior and exterior- which was done in Colonial Yellow. 82 Ocean is the first house in the “Cape Arundel Summer Colony Historic District” which extends past St. Ann’s Church (1887) and Spouting Rock Cottage to The Cape Arundel Inn (1895) near the Bush Compound on Walker’s Point. See photos of the 82 Ocean Avenue property after the transformation.

The Burkes learned from local historians that the main part of the house was built in 1901 by Reverend Jesse Durrell, a 32nd degree Mason – which explains the symbolic triangular windows throughout the century-old home. The boat barn was once at the end of a dock on the Kennebunk River before being relocated to the back cove. Clearly they stored and launched boats from the barn a century ago. See more on the history of the home.

Many features of the home remain unchanged, including the fourth story widow’s walk, the grand main staircase, and the covered porch that overlooks The Kennebunk River and the comings and goings of Ocean Ave which has included bridal carriages to celebrities and Presidents over the past century.

More photos of 82 Ocean in Kennebunkport, Maine