One of Burlington’s most valuable properties, a 14,000-square-foot mansion in the middle of the Burlington Country Club, was listed for sale last week for $15 million — nearly three times its assessed value.
Atop the Hill Section, tucked behind concentric rings of forest and country club fairways, the estate is insulated from the challenges of city life below — homelessness, addiction, drunken college students, leaf-peeping tourists. Across 17 acres and seven bedrooms, the property includes its own library, 16-seat movie theater, gym, billiards room and tennis court.
The luxurious retreat even has its own name: Fairholt.
“The interior finishes are like none seen in this area,” the Sotheby’s International Realty listing explains, including herringbone-laid African mahogany floors in the 60-foot-long great room.
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The firm of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame, designed Fairholt’s grounds more than a century ago. Boston architecture firm Peabody & Stearns designed the home as a summer cottage for New York publishing magnate Henry Holt. IDX Systems cofounder Richard Tarrant and his then-wife, Amy, bought the estate in 1996 for $1 million and undertook major renovations and additions, Seven Days previously reported. It’s currently owned by a trust connected to Amy Tarrant, a racehorse breeder.
The property has, more than once, been the subject of several tussles with the city over its assessed value, which dictates its annual property taxes. During a citywide reassessment in 2021, Fairholt was initially assessed just shy of $6.4 million, making it the priciest home in Burlington. Tarrant appealed, and her representatives supplied their own appraisal that pegged the value at just $5.2 million. The city assessor acquiesced, leaving Fairholt merely the second most valuable residence in the Queen City, with annual property taxes of $115,018.
No. 1 is a lakefront property on Oakledge Drive, assessed at nearly $5.4 million.
The Sotheby’s agent for Fairholt declined to answer questions. A representative for the Amy E. Tarrant Living Trust did not respond to a request for comment.
Correction, October 5, 2023: A previous version of this story misidentified the firm that designed the home.The original print version of this article was headlined “Fair Price?”
This article appears in Oct 4-10, 2023.
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