ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
SINCE ITS CONSTRUCTION in the early 1980s, the house has been seen by very few people. Now it can be yours, if the bid is right.
A little-known country estate will be put up for auction Saturday afternoon in the Catawba Valley.
Called Blackacre, the estate includes a 7,600-square-foot house that is almost a mile off Blacksburg Road on 77 wooded acres, hidden from public view.
It belonged to Beatrice Kurtin, formerly of New Jersey, who died Nov. 1 at age 88. The house and the land cost more than $1 million, said Carl Roth, a New Jersey accountant who was Beatrice Kurtin's financial adviser.
The house has three distinct living areas, each with private bath and kitchen and individual climate controls. The first-floor great room is 44 feet long. The house is surrounded by more than 4,000 square feet of decks.
Since its construction in the early 1980s, the house has been seen by few but speculated on by many in the Catawba Valley. Among its unusual features are a swimming pool that lies like a moat outside the front door, a footbridge above the pool that leads inside, and a "watchtower" that rises more than 30 feet from the center of the house and gives views of the valley and hills.
Made of stone and wood, the house has a copper roof, six baths and deep walk-in closets. There are several skylights, and not many windows.
Beatrice Kurtin and her husband, Benjamin, intended to retire to the house in the early 1980s. Before the house was completed, Benjamin Kurtin developed Alzheimer's disease and died in a Roanoke nursing home. Beatrice Kurtin moved into the house with her son, Jonathan, a Roanoke lawyer, who was heavily involved in the house's design with Eldon Karr, a Roanoke architect.
A few years ago, Jonathan Kurtin moved out. His mother continued to live at Blackacre, attended by nurses and aides.
Despite his familiarity with the property, Jonathan Kurtin is not involved with the sale.
"I have no comment," he said Monday. "I'm sorry, but it was a personal matter and I just have no comment."
From the beginning, the intensely private Kurtins and their secluded home have been topics of conversation among Catawba residents.
Local lore had the family as owners of the Ken-L-Ration dog food company, Kmart and Hershey's chocolate - rumors that all were untrue, Roth said.
"My father was an entrepreneur, and he had a variety of businesses," said Stephen Kurtin, the couple's other son, from his office in Los Angeles. Benjamin Kurtin and a relative did sell a dog food processing plant to a major company years ago, he said, but the bulk of his enterprises involved real estate development and car washes, among other things, in the New York City area.
"My parents were wonderful people, terrific parents," said Benjamin Kurtin, who holds a doctorate in physics and works as a computer industry consultant.
To Catawba residents, Beatrice Kurtin was perhaps the biggest mystery of all.
"I guess I may have met her, not really formally," said Ed Robinson, a retired Virginia Tech geology professor who lives next door, where he raises sheep and operates a pick-your-own apple orchard. "They used to come down to buy cider, and once she was in the back seat and waved."
The few who knew her paint a picture of a gifted woman of wealth who knew personal loss, and who was very much the boss of the property.
"She was very well educated and just a super nice lady," said Jean Custer, a Catawba nurse who pulled night duty at Blackacre and was present when Beatrice Kurtin died.
"She was a very lovely lady," said Gladys Johnson of Franklin County, a home health aide who worked the day shift. "She would reminisce on her happy times. She never talked about her unhappy times."
The former employees recall a woman who in cheerful moments recited poetry and quoted lines and sang songs from Broadway plays; a world traveler who told them about her adventures with her husband and children; and a health-conscious person who wore white gloves when she went out to shop at Kmart, buy fruits and vegetables at the Roanoke City Market and dine at La Maison, Red Lobster or a Chinese restaurant. She missed her husband terribly, they say.
Jim Martin, the auctioneer with Charlton & Associates of New Castle, said he has advertised the house in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and regional publications. So many Catawbans asked to see it that Martin, who lives nearby, scheduled an open house for the neighborhood and drew 30 to 40 visitors.
Open houses on the past two Sunday afternoons drew 250 and 129 people, respectively, Martin said. Many were sightseers. He also gave more than 15 private showings.
"It's architecturally different than anything I've ever seen in my life," said Mark Reinhardt, a dentist from Roanoke County who stopped by Sunday to glean ideas for a house he plans to build. "The stonework is beautiful."
"It seems to be based on very little reality," said William Franklin of Franklin Furniture at Tanglewood Mall.
Other visitors have come from as far as New York, the Baltimore-Washington area and even Washington state - a man happened to be in North Carolina when he saw an ad.
The house is at 6694 Blacksburg Road, 3.8 miles from Virginia 311. Saturday's auction will begin at 1 p.m. A $25,000 down payment will be required of the winning bidder, and the family has reserved the right to reject the high bid and pull the house from the market.
"What people are willing to pay for these things, we have no idea," Stephen Kurtin said.
But he believes in the "economic philosophy of Milton Friedman - get the word out, and people will bid a fair price."
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. The Kurtin family and its secludedby CNBhome have been topics of conversation among Catawba residents. 2.
This spiral staircase leads to the home's watchtower. color. 3. The
back of the house has an extensive patio area. Decks cover 4,700
square feet. 4. Open houses at Blackacre on the past two Sunday
afternoons drew 250 and 129 people, respectively.