Location: Cambridge, Mass.
Price: $3,850,000
The Skinny In Cambridge, of all places, "He's no rocket scientist!" is a rarely heard derogation. That might be because the city is home to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or because at least one neighbor actually is a rocket scientist. That would be Ramon Alonso, co-designer of the Apollo space program's guidance computer and husband to famed psychotherapist Anne Alonso, who once called this 1903 Queen Anne mansion home.
A flipper apparently purchased the seven-bedroom, 6.5-bath home in October 2009 for the comparatively low price of $1.75M and got right to work renovating. In less than a year, the 7,000-square-foot property underwent a compete refinishing, including revamped kitchen, marble bathrooms, and new shingles in non-offensive beige to replace the don't-buy-me red originals. The house also underwent a complete lead remediation to ensure that any intellectual advantage obtained by the next residents through osmosis wouldn't be, ahem, retarded by exposure to toxic paint. With the listing back on the market at $3.85M, the house might have to start trading on its brainy past to make the sale. Ivory tower, anyone?
· 17 Lake View Ave [Hammond RE]
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