The three-bedroom home, built in 1890, was part of the...

The three-bedroom home, built in 1890, was part of the estate of financier August Heckscher. Credit: World Properties/Matthew Hart

A three-bedroom, 2½-bath Huntington Bay home formerly part of the Heckscher estate is on the market for $899,999.

When homeowners Lou and Jackie Minghinelli purchased the 1890 home just under a decade ago, they found it was loaded with alarms.

“There were all sorts of alarms, so he must have kept something valuable here,” Jackie Minghinelli says of August Heckscher, a real estate operator, mine executive, financier and philanthropist for whom East Islip's Heckscher State Park is named. He also established the Heckscher Museum of Art located in Huntington's Heckscher Park. “There was also a safe found inside the walls," Minghinelli says. "They must have been here from when he built the house. It was pretty cool.”

Public records show that the house, built sometime between 1900 and 1903, was once the garage and was converted to a residence in the 1920s.

The home has been a labor of love for the Minghinellis. “Even though it was old, we just knew that we loved it — something grabbed us," says Minghinelli. The kitchen was remodeled with granite countertops and a tin ceiling. The bathrooms were also redone, one with a stained-glass tree in its window, but done so in a style to retain the house’s vintage charm.

One of Minghinelli's favorite features is the inlay on the wood floors. Besides the two in the sunroom, almost the entire rest of the home is lined with leaded glass windows. There’s also a hallway office, utility basement, fireplace and two-car garage.

“I can feel the history — the presence of all the people before me who lived in this house,” Minghinelli says.

The home is listed with Matthew Hart of World Properties International Sea to Sky Realty.

FLASH SALE

$1 FOR ONE YEAR

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