Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
This one-of-a-kind home in New Portland was built piecemeal over decades and is filled with handmade personal touches.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom house sits off Middle Road on the bank of the Carrabassett River. The home offers more than 2,300 square feet of living space and sits on just under 6 acres.
The property also holds a 460-square-foot cottage, which could be a short-term rental, guest house or serve another purpose, said Susan Pearson of Allied Realty, the listing agent for the property and aunt of the seller.
The home hit the market in January with an asking price of $749,000, but that dropped to $698,000 last month.
A long, catwalk-style deck juts off the back of the home toward the river and ends with a small opening big enough for two chairs to sit and admire the view, Pearson said.
“It’s a beautiful location and a great house,” Pearson said. “It has so many different pieces of art in it.”
Jim Cesario inherited the home from his stepfather after he died a few months ago, but decided to sell it because he wasn’t in a position to maintain the property. His stepfather bought the land and first built a small cabin in 1975, then slowly added to the building over decades.
“He was a pretty eccentric fellow and this was his life’s work,” Cesario said. “There are some spots that aren’t finished because he had to stop and go off to work on something else, then he just ran out of time.”
The home is filled with exposed wood elements — including wood-covered bathtubs — and features a post-and-beam design, Cesario said.
There are also several stained and blown glass elements, including windows, hangings, lamps and panels in doors and cabinets, all of which were created by a local artist, Cesario said.
Two beds in the home are suspended, which Cesario’s stepfather created to mimic the gentle rock of ocean waves, he said.
“He always loved the water,” Cesario said. “Our family spent five summers living on a 45-foot boat in the Nantucket Boat Basin.”
His stepfather eventually sold the boat, but kept a railing from it to use as a handrail on the staircase that leads to the home’s primary suite, Cesario said.
Cesario’s stepfather went back to Nantucket for work throughout his life, then would return to Maine to add to his house with the money he earned. He was a construction worker who specialized in drywall and plastering, Cesario said.
“He would work on his house until he was out of money, then go back to Nantucket to work,” Cesario said.
Aside from the wood elements throughout the home, Cesario said he’s particularly fond of one arched stained glass window in the master bedroom that features orange flowers.
Cesario said he hopes someone artistic or with an imagination and a love of nature buys the home, as they’ll appreciate its unique touches and proximity to popular skiing and hiking areas.
“He had a sense of humor, but was also a good carpenter,” Pearson said. “He built what he liked to build and did a good job doing it.”