Luxury Living: Homes with literary links

Once the gathering place for New York’s literary elite during the mid-19th century, this Waverly Place mansion is said to be where Edgar Allan Poe debuted his Gothic masterpiece, The Raven. The six-story, 10,200-square-foot mansion was renovated in 2015 and now features seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and nearly 2,000 square feet of outdoor space including a garden, three terraces, and an infinity-pool roof deck.

This romantic Tuscan-style villa is the Montecito estate of Rhonda Byrne, best-selling author of the 2006 self-help book The Secret. Named Prima Luce (Italian for ‘first light’), this enchanting home was designed to capture the vistas of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains from its location in the heart of Montecito’s Golden Quadrangle. Prima Luce’s 2.5-acre grounds feature gardens and oak woodland, which surround a pool and cabana, a guest house and six parking garages.

A Newport landmark since its completion in 1873, The Orchard is owned by novelist Gloria Nagy and her husband Richard Saul Wurman, architect, designer and founder of the TED conference. The magnificent gated compound features a 16-bedroom, French-château-style mansion with 6.69 acres of grounds where there is a tennis court, two swimming pools, and the original, renovated stables with two apartments.

This idyllic stone-clad mansion was built in 1938 by historical novelist Kenneth Roberts. Accessed by private road, and set within woodland and meadows on the Maine coast, the 24-acre estate served as the inspiration for many of his most famous novels, including Northwest Passage. The property has since been restored and updated but its Old World charm remains. The 5,079-square-foot main house is enhanced with a quaint stone cottage, and grounds which include a six-acre lily pond.

This four-bedroom apartment is situated in Carlyle Mansions, arguably London’s most literary property. Named after the Victorian historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, the prestigious 19th-century building facing the River Thames on Cheyne Walk counts such literary giants as T.S. Eliot, Henry James, Somerset Maugham and Ian Fleming among its former residents. In addition to its enviable address, this residence boasts 2,323 square feet of living areas with triple-aspect views of the Thames.