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If you’re a seasoned house hunter in Montclair, you know once you cross the threshold of a home in Montclair, you can be in for a big surprise. Such is the case at 87 North Mountain, a single family Victorian home – fully loaded – architecturally speaking.
This well-maintained seven-bedroom, four level home has plenty of curb appeal, but the eye candy is all in the details inside. Built in 1900, Montclair Mayor Ernest C. Hinck and his wife Helena were the first of five owners.
Current owners, Jon and Marion Randel, restored this home with meticulous detail to Victorian authenticity and the Art and Crafts details present from subsequent additions. Their passion garnered a Victorian Society Preservation Award for outstanding renovations. The home is listed with Adriana O’Toole, Montclair Realty for $1,132,600. Taxes are $29,957. The property includes a two-car garage, and a well lit basement walkout with a home office and a “mother-in-law suite” with bedroom, full bath, and private entrance. Bonus for gardening addicts: there’s an attached potting shed, lovely mature plantings and a “secret garden” on the flag-shaped lot which is nearly half an acre.
Bright and roomy, the home is resplendent with carved antique woodwork, original light fixtures, stained glass, parquet floors, multiple fireplaces and leaded glass cabinets lending a museum quality to the house, plus the coziness of a bed and breakfast. A word of caution: don’t be afraid of wallpaper. Keeping with the period, owners have invested a fortune in historically accurate wallpaper, often applied in layers, from Bradbury and Bradbury. The dining room has interesting patterns on walls and ceiling, in subdued jewel tones.
Don’t miss the open house at 87 North Mountain, Montclair, this Sunday, January 31, 2-4 pm. For listing info, and a virtual tour of this home, click here.
More photos and highlights, after the jump:


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Throughout the house: french doors, pocket doors, period and original ceiling lights; the bright, eat-in kitchen is fully renovated with Viking double ovens, GE SS refrigerator. Original butler’s pantry cabinets, glazed Mexican tile floor, oak butcher block counters, and a wood-burning Soapstone stove add charm and warmth. Master bedroom suite inlcudes a sitting room and full bath. Adjacent is the 2nd floor library/sitting room with fireplace, bay window, built in leaded glass cabinets. All fireplaces are adorned with American Encaustic Tiles. Admire the sloped ceilings and warm tones of the “deer and rabbit” bedroom named for the frieze accenting the ceiling. Another bedroom has a sweet dressing area opening to a “Juliette” balcony.
Abundant Plantings at 87 N Mountain Ave: Blue Fescue grass,
Blue Spruce – Dwarf Globe, Butterfly Bush, Cedar (Black Dragon Japanese), Euonymus – Manhattan Euonymus, Heavenly Bamboo, varieties of Hydrangea, Japanese Maple (Red Dragon Lace), day lilies, Pyramidal Cypress St Johnswort – Sunburst, Viburnum, Red Twig Dogwood shrub,Iris (many rhizomes purchased from Presby Iris Gardens), pear tree, and more.
Listing office: Montclair Realty, Adriana O’Toole, 973-744-8377

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14 replies on “For Sale: Montclair Victorian Gem Of A Home”

  1. I’m a little confused by open houses for million dollar homes. I have to think most people who can afford them are not going to open houses. I feel like it’s a chance for the seller and future owner to “show off” their wealth more than anything. I went to one about a year ago out of curiosity (along w half the neighborhood, it seems). Of course, I’m insanely jealous that I’ll never be able to own anything like that, but every time I pass by the house now, I get a small sense of satisfaction knowing that I was in the home before the owners.

  2. I cannot believe this house is only a million dollars. Prices have seriously come down in Montclair — this house seems like it would be almost $2 million if it went on the market in 2006.

  3. Take a closer look at this home. It is beautiful and classic from the exterior. However, its interior is quite outdated (kitchen and probably baths, largely unfinished basement, etc.), it has no A/C (I don’t count ceiling fans as a valid “cooling” method!), and, among many other things, it is on a part of N. Mountain that starts to get quite commercial and close to Claremont and Bloomfield. And if you start to do the aforementioned improvements on the home, the taxes will quickly be up in the mid-$30’s. Additionally, the house is fairly small — only 4000 sq. ft. That’s almost $300 per square ft. I think if you check, that would be on the high end of valuations per square foot. The house is actually listed for its exact tax assessed value. Anyhow, I’m sure it is a lovely home that looks well tended to, but I wouldn’t think it would ever have fetched anything close to $2 million. It’s all in the details! It is pretty, though!

  4. This house appears overpriced for what it is. It is lovely house, but at .4 acres and 4,000 sq. ft. near Bloomfield, it should probably be around 950K if they are really serious about selling it. They paid 471K for it in 1998. They would still get a nice profit assuming they didn’t take out any other larger loans on it in the meantime.

  6. I have a friend who lives in Montclair and she’s been urging me to move out of Manhattan. I’ve been to a number of open houses in Montclair, including one at this address and was totally wow-ed by this property. This house more than any other has tempted me to sell my condo. It’s the idea of commuting that has so far kept me in the city — I just can bring myself to move. But the house! My god, these people have done an incredible job. Fair is fair. This is far and away the best Victorian restoration I’ve ever seen. Given the quality of work done on this house and grounds, it’s very fairly priced. The sellers had some photos of what the house looked like when they bought it 12 years ago, and they’ve really resurrected it — brought it back from a neglected, shabby state. These people deserve credit for their effort in this project and some buyer who recognizes what they’ve done will gladly pay the asking price.

  8. Katebird — Yes it is all relative! Also, remember I was responding to someone who had commented that this house would have sold for $2 mil a few years ago — I don’t think any 4000 sq ft house in Montclair would have ever sold for $2 mil. If you look at sales in 2007, 2008 and 2009 that were $1.75 mil and above, most, if not all, were SUBSTANTIALLY larger than 4,000 sq. ft. At $2 mil, that would be $500 per sq ft for this house — that is higher than prices in Northern California or even NYC. Never would happen. So that’s actually what I meant — all relative to this person speculating about a $2 mil price tag. Have a great day!

  9. CHEAP! at half the price, which is where it should be for a tidy profit from 1998 to today, right? I mean, they derived the use of it so they essentially got 12 free years of rent and at $505,000, they’d make a few dollars, and they would have lived for free.
    Last month, 1,000 homes sold at over $750,000 in the United States. Let me repeat.
    Last month, 1,000 homes sold at over $750,000 in the United States.
    There are 132 homes (as of yesterday), priced at over that on Zillow in Montclair.

  11. CHEAP! at half the price, which is where it should be for a tidy profit from 1998 to today, right? I mean, they derived the use of it so they essentially got 12 free years of rent and at $505,000, they’d make a few dollars, and they would have lived for free.
    Last month, 1,000 homes sold at over $750,000 in the United States. Let me repeat.
    Last month, 1,000 homes sold at over $750,000 in the United States.
    There are 132 homes (as of yesterday), priced at over that on Zillow in Montclair.

  12. I think the renovation is FAR from tacky. I don’t know if everyone can handle the color schemes and fixtures of a Victorian house- its not for everyone. Given the details of the rest of the house, I would have loved to seen some of the antique, yet refurbished/faux appliances I have seen offered in the kitchen. Something like this perhaps- https://www.antiqueappliances.com/ ? Good luck with the sale.

  13. smoghat, this joint is way out of my price range and I have no idea if it’s priced fairly–but just on principle, your hypothesis seems pretty funky to me.
    First of all, unless the owners had bought the place with cash, they have of course been paying more than the actual purchase price all along, because they’d be paying interest on their mortgage. So if they sold it for ‘a few dollars more’ than what they paid for it 13 years ago, they certainly wouldn’t have been living ‘for free’ all that time.
    Second, I don’t know how much work they did on the house, but considering the fact they won an award for their renovations, I’m guessing it was A LOT–and I see things like double Viking stoves, etc. So I can’t imagine that the owners haven’t poured a good deal of money into the place.
    Lastly, I can’t imagine there are too many people out there who wouldn’t price their house at what they consider the market rate–regardless of whether some stranger thinks they’d still be making a ‘tidy profit’ if they charged less.

  14. Well, it appears as though the owners came around to my line of thinking. This house was just marked down to 979K. Unfortunately, there is so much supply on the market now, that it might not be enough. It probably would have sold in the fall at this price being one of the only nice Victorians on the market, but there are quite a few now. We’ll see.

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