The childhood home of conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr., known as "Great Elm" in Sharon, Connecticut, is facing difficulty finding a buyer. The eight-bedroom, nine-bathroom house, originally built in 1812 and later purchased by William F. Buckley Sr. with Venezuelan oil money in 1924, was listed on May 6 for $3.999 million and has been on the market for 149 days. It was initially listed for $5.5 million in May 2024, then dropped to $5 million before being taken off the market and relisted with new agents, Pels Matthews from William Raveis Lifestyles Realty, at the current price. The property's struggle to sell comes despite a feature on the popular real estate Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild.
Great Elm boasts a storied past, having hosted numerous influential figures such as Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, and Sylvia Plath, who famously described its beauty in a letter to her mother. The estate also served as the founding location for the Young Americans for Freedom and the adoption of the Sharon Statement in 1960. William F. Buckley Jr. spent the first 15 years of his life there and later founded the National Review. His wife, Patricia, was known for hosting elaborate parties that drew prominent guests to the estate. The house also features a unique atrium, redesigned in 1936 by Buckley Sr. after a fire, which agent Pels Matthews describes as the "showstopper" of the property.
Currently, the 8,000-square-foot home on over six acres of land is owned by Charles Smith, Buckley's nephew, marking the end of over 100 years of Buckley family ownership. Listing agent Pels Matthews attributes the slow sale to a cooling real estate market in Litchfield County and the property's unique nature. He notes that Litchfield County's market, particular for homes above $1 million, is shifting from a sellers' market to a more balanced one, with buyers becoming more selective. Matthews remains confident that a buyer will be found, stating that Smith is "realistic but patient" about the sale of this historic and distinctive property.
