The 5,000-square-foot main residence.
Veteran news anchor Diane Sawyer is saying goodbye to her sprawling Martha’s Vineyard compound.
Her former home sold for $23.9 million, just under its $24 million asking price, to investor David Malm, The Wall Street Journal reported. Known as Chip Chop, the 20-acre beachside compound is located between Vineyard Sound and Lake Tashmoo and has four homes. She has owned the property, which is two lots combined, for nearly 30 years. The first lot spans 17.4 acres and the other encompasses 2.84 acres of land.
The living room in the main house.
The property has a three-bedroom main residence, a two-bedroom caretaker’s cottage and two one-bedroom beach houses (the Pond Pavilion and Ocean Pavilion), which were built in 2007. There’s also a swimming pool and a Har-Tru tennis court. In total, there’s a mile of private shoreline and 2,000 feet of sandy beach on the ocean, plus more beach on Lake Tashmoo. Residents get the best of both worlds: quaint and charming lake life and the wonders of the sea.
A charming guest bedroom.
Though she’s owned the property for a solid 30 years, Sawyer wasn’t the property’s first significant resident. It was built in the 1930s for Broadway star Katharine Cornell and has hosted notable literary, theater, cinema and political figures over the years. In fact, the property is one of the most famous parcels in all of Martha’s Vineyard for its legendary history and prime location. Before this transaction, it only changed hands three times in 75 years, and this is the first time it’s been on the open market.
A sitting room overlooking the Vineyard Sound.
There are no mega-mansions at this estate; each home on the property offers quaint New England charm—both stylish and laid-back. The 5,000-square-foot main residence has a shingle-style exterior and was originally designed by Neoclassic architect Eric Gugler, who remodeled the West Wing of the White House for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Sawyer’s late husband, Mike Nichols, oversaw the renovation of this home, which included updating the interiors and creating replica antique windows and doors while heavily preserving the structure of the home. They tapped Tate Builders for the restoration and renovation.
The kitchen in the main house.
There are views of the Vineyard Sound from nearly every room in each dwelling, and on a clear day, you can see the mainland while you’re catching rays at the backyard swimming pool. In addition to the pool, the main house also has a covered loggia, outdoor dining and large wooden pool deck.
The great room has cozy wood paneling and wooden ceiling beams and two large fireplaces, as well as bright, light-filled bedrooms that perfectly capture the ocean views. The smaller, one-bedroom dwellings are the most modern structures on the property and offer privacy and seclusion for guests.
The swimming pool.
Thanks to the lovely amenities, as well as access to both the lake and ocean, it’s possible you might never have to leave the property. The home was listed by Mark Jenkins of Wallace and Co. Sotheby’s International Realty, and Tom Wallace, the principal broker of Wallace and Co. Sotheby’s International Realty, represented the buyer in the transaction.