History isn?t cheap, or so it would seem after the auction of Tudor Hall in Bel Air.
The family home of John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln?s assassin, failed to fetch a suitable asking price for the historic home?s owners, Robert and Elizabeth Baker.
Whereas a typical house auction may last about 20 minutes or more, with bidders engaged in constant struggle to outbid opponents, the auction for Tudor Hall lasted no more than 10 minutes.
“Do I hear 825, 825 … ” called out real estate broker and auctioneer Aimee C. O?Neill, starting at $825,000. But the auction of 17 Tudor Lane did not go well.
O?Neill continued to rattle off prices. But unlike most auctions, the price kept going down, with no takers. She finally stopped at $805,000.
“We?re always disappointed when [a house] doesn?t sell,” O?Neill said after the auction. “It will remain listed, and it will sell. It?s a beautiful house.”
Elizabeth Baker said her family still liked the house and would stay if it didn?t sell.
The Bakers bought the property in 1999 for $415,000 and first listed it for sale last month, asking $875,000.
In the time they owned it, they completely refurbished it, redoing the floors, heating, plumbing, electrical system and fireplaces.
They did a fantastic job, said Jill Reading, who came to watch the auction out of personal interest. A Realtor and actor, she was a longtime friend of Tudor Hall?s previous owners, Howard and Dorothy Fox, who died in 1999.
“We used to do murder mysteries here,” Reading said, as she described how during the Fox ownership of the property, scaffolding would be erected in front of the home and a stage would be set on the scaffolding ? a fitting activity for a house built by a family known for its actors.
“We spent every holiday here. My children were married here. I?ve slept in every room in this house,” Redding reminisced. “I hope it sells to someone who will be as nice to it as the Bakers have been.”
Registered bidder and private entrepreneur Joe W. Bavett, of Ocean City, said after the auction that his interest in the property was greatly diminished after O?Neill announced that the property was being auctioned as is, and the Bakers were disclosing a problem with the septic drain field.
