Post by Dark Avenger on Oct 12, 2021 20:20:58 GMT -5
'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' house for sale for nearly $2 million — black cat not included
FREEHOLD, N.J. — The owners of the Victorian building on East Main Street, whose grand façade served as the fictional home for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" in the late '90s sitcom, have placed the property for sale for $1.95 million.
The listing has rekindled interest in a building that has taken turns as the home of the borough's first female attorney; a must-see stop on a tour of Christmas lights; and a law office whose very setting could convince clients to pay higher fees.
All of that came before a location scout for "Sabrina" dropped by the law office of Scott Beskin and asked if they could take a picture of the building to use in a television show.
"I just thought it was flattering that someone liked the looks of my Victorian building as much as I did," said Beskin, 83, who sold the property nearly three decades ago.
Their timing could be better. The pandemic has upended the office real estate market, leaving white collar workers retreating to their homes. But the property's listing agent thinks the building's storied history — and star turn on an ABC show — could stir interest.
"I think it would be a selling point," said Michael Lubrano, an agent with Century 21 Action Plus Realty in Freehold.
Freehold, home to Bruce Springsteen, is no stranger to selling points, but the Victorian on East Main Street has managed to find its own place in popular culture as a cutaway shot on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch."
The show featured Sabrina Spellman, played by Melissa Joan Hart, who lived in the Spellman Manor with her two 600-year-old aunts and talking cat in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts.
The original sitcom, which ran on ABC and later WB, starred Melissa Joan Hart as an adolescent witch struggling to hide her powers and come across as a normal teenage girl. Introduced in the Archie comic book series in the early 1960s, Sabrina needed to learn how to harness her supernatural powers while winding her way through the agony of high school.
The show was popular. Wouldn't it be nice if you could put a hex on the mean girls and the bullies?
Samantha Heyer, 34, who owns Magical Encounters, a photography studio next door to the Sabrina house, grew up watching the show, only to learn about the local connection from a co-worker years later.
Heyer hasn't seen tour buses or selfie-takers that are common to some entertainment landmarks. But if you put Sabrina's home through Google, the map leads you here. And Heyer wonders if there's an otherworldly reason as to why the lights in her own workplace sometimes turn on and off.
"Maybe it was Sabrina's doing," Heyer said.
In real life, the house stands on its own.
Lillian Anderson, believed to be the borough's first female attorney, lived there in the early 1900s, working as a legal adviser to the state Department of Education and columnist for the Freehold Transcript before she died in 1954, said Kevin Coyne, a Freehold historian.
The house became a landmark in town. Rodney and Robert Leidner, hair stylists, bought it after Anderson's death, turning it into a showpiece with stained glass windows, a fireplace, red velvet chairs and floors of polished wood, the Asbury Park Press reported during a visit in 1961.
The living room is so large that the 85-year-old Weber rosewood piano only enhances, does not dominate the room," the story said. "According to Rodney Leidner, it is in good tune."
Shortly after moving to Freehold, attorney Scott Beskin would drive by the Leidners' home during the Christmas season to admire the lights.
It was a scene he would remember in the late 1980s, when the building was back on the market and had been converted into a law office.
Scott Beskin owned the Victorian building at 64 E. Main St. in Freehold in the mid '90s, when a location scout for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" asked if its facade could be used in the sitcom.
Beskin decided to buy it for $400,000. He moved his office there from a building on Route 9. And he furnished it with items including a large antique desk, a leather chair, a gas fireplace and an old radio that played music from the 1930s.
For some reason, he said, the office gave him respectability, allowing him to charge a little more for his services.
"It was just a whole different feeling and more prestigious," Beskin said. "If I tell somebody something in the little office on the highway, they would go and doublecheck it with somebody else. If I told them something as a lawyer in that building, they would say, 'Oh, yes, Mr. Beskin.'"
It isn't clear how "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" crew found 64 E. Main St. The show's creator, Nell Scovell, told NJ Advance Media in 2019 that she was looking for an East Coast vibe for establishing shots and liked the Victorian aesthetic of the Freehold house.
Beskin said scouts stopped in one day and offered either $100 or $200, he can't quite remember, to take a photo of the front of the building to use on the show. He signed a release giving them permission. And then he went back to his practice.
Beskin began losing his passion for the law. He retired at the age of 56 and moved to the Florida Keys, where he sold real estate.
He thought about holding onto the Freehold home, but it required too much upkeep to maintain the slate roof and oil burner, he said, so he and his wife, Patricia, sold it in 2001 for $460,000.
The following years weren't kind to the home. In 2011, it landed in foreclosure. Three years later, Boiling Springs Savings Bank sold it to the current owners, Three Buddies LLC, for $335,000, according to Monmouth County property records.
Beskin now divides his time between Leonardtown, Maryland, and Palm Coast, Florida. And even though his family was a bit too old to be counted as Sabrina's target audience, he would watch once in a while to get a glimpse of his building.
"It was definitely the one that was used in 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch,'" he said. "And a lot of kids growing up knew the picture of that house."
The listing has rekindled interest in a building that has taken turns as the home of the borough's first female attorney; a must-see stop on a tour of Christmas lights; and a law office whose very setting could convince clients to pay higher fees.
All of that came before a location scout for "Sabrina" dropped by the law office of Scott Beskin and asked if they could take a picture of the building to use in a television show.
"I just thought it was flattering that someone liked the looks of my Victorian building as much as I did," said Beskin, 83, who sold the property nearly three decades ago.
Their timing could be better. The pandemic has upended the office real estate market, leaving white collar workers retreating to their homes. But the property's listing agent thinks the building's storied history — and star turn on an ABC show — could stir interest.
"I think it would be a selling point," said Michael Lubrano, an agent with Century 21 Action Plus Realty in Freehold.
Freehold, home to Bruce Springsteen, is no stranger to selling points, but the Victorian on East Main Street has managed to find its own place in popular culture as a cutaway shot on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch."
The show featured Sabrina Spellman, played by Melissa Joan Hart, who lived in the Spellman Manor with her two 600-year-old aunts and talking cat in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts.
The original sitcom, which ran on ABC and later WB, starred Melissa Joan Hart as an adolescent witch struggling to hide her powers and come across as a normal teenage girl. Introduced in the Archie comic book series in the early 1960s, Sabrina needed to learn how to harness her supernatural powers while winding her way through the agony of high school.
The show was popular. Wouldn't it be nice if you could put a hex on the mean girls and the bullies?
Samantha Heyer, 34, who owns Magical Encounters, a photography studio next door to the Sabrina house, grew up watching the show, only to learn about the local connection from a co-worker years later.
Heyer hasn't seen tour buses or selfie-takers that are common to some entertainment landmarks. But if you put Sabrina's home through Google, the map leads you here. And Heyer wonders if there's an otherworldly reason as to why the lights in her own workplace sometimes turn on and off.
"Maybe it was Sabrina's doing," Heyer said.
In real life, the house stands on its own.
Lillian Anderson, believed to be the borough's first female attorney, lived there in the early 1900s, working as a legal adviser to the state Department of Education and columnist for the Freehold Transcript before she died in 1954, said Kevin Coyne, a Freehold historian.
The house became a landmark in town. Rodney and Robert Leidner, hair stylists, bought it after Anderson's death, turning it into a showpiece with stained glass windows, a fireplace, red velvet chairs and floors of polished wood, the Asbury Park Press reported during a visit in 1961.
The living room is so large that the 85-year-old Weber rosewood piano only enhances, does not dominate the room," the story said. "According to Rodney Leidner, it is in good tune."
Shortly after moving to Freehold, attorney Scott Beskin would drive by the Leidners' home during the Christmas season to admire the lights.
It was a scene he would remember in the late 1980s, when the building was back on the market and had been converted into a law office.
Scott Beskin owned the Victorian building at 64 E. Main St. in Freehold in the mid '90s, when a location scout for "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" asked if its facade could be used in the sitcom.
Beskin decided to buy it for $400,000. He moved his office there from a building on Route 9. And he furnished it with items including a large antique desk, a leather chair, a gas fireplace and an old radio that played music from the 1930s.
For some reason, he said, the office gave him respectability, allowing him to charge a little more for his services.
"It was just a whole different feeling and more prestigious," Beskin said. "If I tell somebody something in the little office on the highway, they would go and doublecheck it with somebody else. If I told them something as a lawyer in that building, they would say, 'Oh, yes, Mr. Beskin.'"
It isn't clear how "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" crew found 64 E. Main St. The show's creator, Nell Scovell, told NJ Advance Media in 2019 that she was looking for an East Coast vibe for establishing shots and liked the Victorian aesthetic of the Freehold house.
Beskin said scouts stopped in one day and offered either $100 or $200, he can't quite remember, to take a photo of the front of the building to use on the show. He signed a release giving them permission. And then he went back to his practice.
Beskin began losing his passion for the law. He retired at the age of 56 and moved to the Florida Keys, where he sold real estate.
He thought about holding onto the Freehold home, but it required too much upkeep to maintain the slate roof and oil burner, he said, so he and his wife, Patricia, sold it in 2001 for $460,000.
The following years weren't kind to the home. In 2011, it landed in foreclosure. Three years later, Boiling Springs Savings Bank sold it to the current owners, Three Buddies LLC, for $335,000, according to Monmouth County property records.
Beskin now divides his time between Leonardtown, Maryland, and Palm Coast, Florida. And even though his family was a bit too old to be counted as Sabrina's target audience, he would watch once in a while to get a glimpse of his building.
"It was definitely the one that was used in 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch,'" he said. "And a lot of kids growing up knew the picture of that house."
