Trying Again To Auction A House In Sag Harbor

By Christian McLean

Does anyone want to buy a dilapidated house held together with ancient nails and good old fashioned stubbornness? Going once? Going twice? All right, let's give it a third try... Any takers? At $900,000 ($200,000 less than the original auction price of two years ago) the now infamous Morpurgo property of Sag Harbor will be going back on the auction block on September 21.

Mark your calendars, as this should be another chapter in the story of a house that has brought a whole community together (some in a lawsuit filed by Annselem Morpurgo - others just to see what will happen next in the ongoing saga of two sisters and one very old house). While we may make light of the decaying residence and the $100 million lawsuit Annselem has fielded, claiming civil rights violations, the truth is, your tax money may be going toward attorneys for The Incorporated Village of Sag Harbor, the Village Police Department, the Sag Harbor Village Building Department and the Suffolk County Water Authority in the case. But there is more at stake than just money, there are people's lives.

The residence that started all this trouble sits on quiet Union Street, a minute's walk from Sag Harbor Village. The house holds historic value as a militia lodge from the 1700s, though it is not landmarked or preserved. It changed hands several times over the centuries and eventually the property was purchased by the Morpurgo family and then left to their two children, Helga and Annselem (or purchased from their estate by Annselem, depending on who you ask). The house has fallen into serious disrepair and has been deemed uninhabitable. It is rumored that the floors are caving in and the plumbing hasn't worked in years. It's like Grey Gardens, minus the aristocratic pedigree and cats. Helga wants to sell the house and move on, but Annselem is hell-bent on keeping it or selling a percentage of it at a price far beyond its assessed value.

While this seems like nothing more than a domestic dispute between two sisters, outlandish asking prices like a $100 million price tag on eBay a year ago gave the house national attention. Two unsuccessful public auctions held on the steps of Sag Harbor's Municipal Building have also created quite a buzz. Add to this the fact that it was once a prospective site for the John Jermain Memorial Library's expansion plan (also mentioned in the lawsuit) and you can see how this white elephant has become intertwined with the present day folklore of the Village.

While there are only two sisters involved, the sale of the house actually involves three parties. The first is Helga, who has sought and received a Suffolk County Supreme Court ruling to put the house up for auction. Then there is Annselem, who does not want to sell. The third party involved is the Savant Garde Institute, a non-profit organization founded by Annselem. Annselem contests that this Institute maintains a 25% share in the property, leaving each sister with 37.5%. But if Annselem owns the Institute, then she technically owns 62.5% of the property, leaving Helga as the minority shareholder. The exact delegation of ownership percentages has yet to be ruled upon, but despite that information, Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Thomas Whelan has sided with Helga to place the house up for auction at the minimum price of $900,000. If the house is sold, 25% will be held in escrow by the Suffolk County Treasurer until a ruling comes down to determine who will receive it.

The story does not end there. Currently, on dansbid.com, Annselem has placed a listing that reads: "Acquire a 50% position in the most controversial and central location in The Hamptons." The listing continues with several detailed descriptions of development plans, which would yield millions upon millions for the partner. The opening bid is $5,000,000 with a "buy it now" price of $20,000,000. But under the court's decision, she currently only owns 37.5%.

Last October, Steven Grossman held court as the referee for the house auction. He opened with a starting price of $1.1 million. Not a bite. It was over within minutes, then Annselem took center stage and offered anyone a 50% share in the house for $800,000 in an attempt to buy her sister out. Again, there were no takers. Then, the battle went back to the courts.

In her lawsuit, Annselem claims to have purchased the property outright from her parents' estate in 1976. She also contends that "appointed or elected officials acting under cover of law and in concert and/or conspiracy with the private interests of next-door neighbors and/or racketeering real estate developers and their corrupt attorneys" have violated her First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The suit goes on to accuse the Sag Harbor Police Department of civil rights violations and racial crimes in the 1980s. The John Jermain Memorial Future Fund is allegedly tied to a conspiracy with Sag Harbor and North Haven residents in regard to vandalism - in order to drop the market value of the Morpurgo land, which would allow the property to be purchased as the site for John Jermain Library's expansion. The list goes on and on.

With a property entangled in so many legal battles, it seems that a buyer would have to be willing to subject himself/herself to a chance that they would be dragged into the courts as well. For many years to come, a buyer could potentially be walking into a spider web of litigation, costing them time and money, possibly beyond what the property is worth, even with Justice Whelan's ruling of dual ownership of the property between both sisters, and the ordered decision to sell the house.

In the next few weeks, you may hear that Artemis Smith is suing Christine Stanley over the Morpurgo house, or vice versa. Each sister goes by an alias: Helga is sometimes known as "Christine Stanley" and Annselem does much of her work under the name "Artemis Smith." A joking man might say that there are five parties involved in the ownership of the property, but this is no laughing matter.

At the heart of the matter are 72 and 73-years-old sisters, who will more than likely spend the rest of their lives battling over a house - a piece of land and an ailing structure, all the while their own lives are lived out in newspapers, the jeers of onlookers, and the discontent of each other. It is a terrible shame when a material possession comes between family bonds - when a collapsing house becomes a symbol for a collapsing relationship.

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