Fire Island tower house for sale for $1.675 million
The Davis Park home with a tower is on the market for $1.73 million. Credit: Kevin Loiacono
Amid a house party of over 300 guests,16 climbed the ladder to the lighthouse-shaped tower: a wooden room whose windows frame the Fire Island sky and sea.
Two people fit comfortably in the tower, said Marty Chinitz, who has owned the Davis Park home with his wife, Shelly, since 1984. Like a lighthouse lantern room with no lantern, the 104-square-foot space offers a panoramic view that includes the Atlantic Ocean and Great South Bay.
"It was a major party for us, because we had just bought the house," Chinitz said. "Everybody was enjoying looking at that 360-degree view."
The tower offers 360-degree views of Fire Island and the surrounding waters. Credit: Kevin Loiacono
Four decades later, the three-bed, three-bath house is on the market for $1.675 million. Taxes on the 0.49-acre property, which falls within the Fire Island School District, total $9,225. The current owners' flood insurance premium is $4,704, said listing agent Kevin Loiacono, of BrookHampton Realty.
Excluding the tower, the 1,416-square-foot home has two levels. On the main level, there is an open-concept living and dining area, a kitchen and a bathroom. On the second level, there are three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a laundry room. The property has its own walkway to the beach.
"The tower's rustic, so it's never been finished like a room," Loiacono said. "It's just the original wood."
Per property records, the house was built in 1959.
Excluding the tower, the 1,416-square-foot home has two levels. Credit: Kevin Loiacono
Loiacono described the tower as "a watching post" with thermal windows. The area is accessible via a ship's ladder made of five-quarter oak, Chinitz said.
"It's really a handmade piece of furniture," Chinitz said. "It's made in such a way that the handles on the side, you can see through them so you don't spoil your view."
For decades, the Chinitzes have spent time on their Fire Island property from April through the end of October, they said in a phone interview. They have hosted pizza parties for their daughter's friends, and dinner parties for their own.
Guests would sit for a sunset and cocktails on the large deck, then move inside.
"And dinners last a long time — dinners last three hours," Chinitz said. "You're sitting around the table and reminiscing about everything."
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Tower house includes a panoramic view of Long Island Sound.
Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.
