Dick Cavett's Montauk home gets $13.5M price cut

Cavett's Cove, the 20-acre oceanfront Montauk estate of legendary talk show host Dick Cavett, is on the market for $48.5 million, down from $62 million when it was listed in 2017.

Built in the early 1880s, the seven-bedroom, five-bath, 7,000-square-foot home is the easternmost home of the "Seven Sisters," so named for the seven Montauk shingled summer cottages built by architect Stanford White and sited by Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted.

The house was originally owned by businessman Alexander Orr, who sold the property to attorney Harrison Tweed. Cavett purchased the home from Tweed in 1968.

The home burned down in 1997, leaving only the chimney intact. Relying on photographs and memory, Cavett and his late wife, Carrie Nye, rebuilt the home in as exact a replica as possible, but adding a pond and pool. In 2008, he sold 77 acres around the property, which became public parkland that can't be developed in the future.

Situated on a cliff, the house has both a wraparound porch and a screened-in porch, wainscoted ceiling and heated brick floors in the kitchen and lower-level media room. A staircase leads to a private 900-foot beach.

After listing the home last year for $62 million, the price was dropped to $48.5 million, a $13.5-million price cut. "It wasn't getting any traction," says listing agent Gary DePersia of The Corcoran Group, adding that after about a year of marketing the home, they opted for a better price.