Haute Property: Oceanfront Oasis

Take a trip down Lily Pond Lane, where a home with some of the most top-notch views in the East Hampton hits the market.

Stretching from Georgia Cove to Hook Pond, Lily Pond Lane is the most majestic street in the Hamptons. Drive down this idyllic road that is lined with old growth trees, and you’ll see why it’s attracted buyers like Jon Bon Jovi and Martha Stewart and even been name-dropped in the Bob Dylan song “Sara.” But Lily Pond has more going for it than Old World charm; it also runs parallel to the ocean, and with a turn onto Drew Lane you arrive at East Hampton’s most storied property.

Legendary advertising executive Jerry Della Femina and his wife, fashion journalist Judy Licht, have decided to start a new chapter in their lives, and the result is one of the most unique listings imaginable. “I’ve been doing real estate out here for 22 years, and I can count on one hand the properties that have come on the market with this location,” says Susan Breitenbach, senior vice president at The Corcoran Group. “It’s the best of the best.”

With nearly two acres featuring lush private gardens, a 7,000-square-foot, eight-bedroom home reminiscent of a European villa and a heated gunite pool with pool house, the Della Femina estate can readily justify its $30 million price tag. Still, this East Hampton home has another trick up its sleeve: an oceanfront view that Breitenbach describes as “the best I have ever seen.”

Whereas most seaside Hamptons homes are hidden behind dunes, the house at 20 Drew Lane sits high atop one, giving this three-story beauty stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean from nearly every room. "The way it sits up there overlooking the ocean is very unique," Breitenbach explains. "So many ocean fronts on the market don't even have views from the first floor, and in some parts of the Hamptons you have to go on a nature hike just to get to the beach."

Indeed, there are no awkward second-floor kitchens or cramped rooftop decks here, just an open, sun-drenched living space that brings the outdoors inside. "You almost feel like you're on a boat," Breitenbach attests. "When you're in the dining room or cooking in the kitchen, you look right out at the water." Naturally, that view is also on display poolside, where sunbathers are a stone's throw (literally) from the crashing waves and can see clear down the East End's most exclusive beach.

With this breathtaking layout, it's no surprise that the Della Femina home has been a fixture on the East Hampton social circuit for years; the home has seen beachside bonfires and star-studded movie premieres with guests like Paul Rudd, Donna Karan, and Christie Brinkley. Even if they're not boldfaced names, guests will be enthralled by this inviting living space. "Most other houses have the air conditioner on, even on the ocean," says Breitenbach, "but in this house, every French door is open, and it's got a great breeze through it."

There's usually a trade-off with a waterfront home like this. In Sagaponack you'd be looking at a new construction built in the last decade; on Meadow Lane in Southampton you'd be far off the beaten path. The house off Lily Pond Lane, however, doesn't force a compromise. "You're on the beach, but you can go out the front door and walk right into town," says Breitenbach.

The man in charge of maintaining the historic character of East Hampton's nearby Main Street is Robert Hefner, the village's director of historic services. He explains how the area around Lily Pond Lane has been able to retain its classic charm in an era when newer is often seen as better.

Once upon a time this was humble farmland belonging to the houses located on Main Street. The initial wave of summer cottages began to crop up in the 1870s, with the first real boom only arriving with the railroad in 1895. But by then the village's laid-back charms had, like the potatoes that once grew here, already taken root. "East Hampton was always known as being more reserved in its architecture and summer colony society," Hefner explains. "The owners of these houses were doctors, lawyers, bankers, ministers-but they weren't the most powerful people from New York."

Clearly, much has changed over the decades, and today's residents of Lily Pond Lane are society's biggest movers and shakers-just ask Martha Stewart or recent renter Madonna. Still, understated class remains a hallmark of the area, one that promises to remain even after the Della Feminas have moved on. "There's a feeling in that house that I haven't felt anywhere else," says Breitenbach. "It's like something out of a movie. It's a very, very special location." Susan Breitenbach, The Corcoran Group, 1936 Montauk Hwy., Bridgehampton, 899-0303; corcoran.com