After attempting to transform the Wedding Cake House into an inn and events venue, the owners of the historic home have put it on the market, and Instagram rejoiced.
The Wedding Cake House in Kennebunk, Maine hit the market for $2.65 million at the end of March, listed by Nathan McCabe at Pack Maynard & Associates.
Not long after, it made the ranks of other real estate lovers’ favorites on the Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild.
“There are so many cool pics of this it was hard to choose just 10!” the post reads. Thankfully, we have more space than the Instagram carousel. Here is what to know about the iconic Maine home:
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From ‘cottagecore’ to ‘weddingcakecore’
Zillow Gone Wild fans gushed over the yellow and white house with ornate trim.
“Oooof literal cottagecore,” the top comment reads, referring to the social media term for cozy, wholesome domestic vibes (or as Reddit describes it, “your grandma, but like, hip.”)
Someone else took it a step further, with the comment “weddingcakecore.”
Others commented on the price, saying it must be relatively low because it is located in Maine. The home is located in York County, where the median home sales price is $428,640, according to previous USA TODAY reporting.
Owners tried to turn home into inn and event space
Owners Hunt and Katie Edwards spent much of 2023 seeing their proposal to transform the place into an inn and venue through the town’s planning process. The project received pushback from neighbors as well as the Select Board.
One of the sources of pushback was a newly formed group called The Friends of the Wedding Cake House. The group hired an attorney, who attended public meetings and pressed the argument that an inn and venue at the site would generate too much noise, traffic, and safety concerns. They also said it would set a precedent for other private properties on Summer Street to turn commercial and would drastically alter the character of the neighborhood.
Edwards told the Planning Board they had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars restoring the Wedding Cake House and its property. He said he and his wife were seeking to establish an inn and venue to create a revenue stream to help them finish their renovations – specifically, the structure’s distinct trim and columns.
In January, the Select Board held off moving the project forward to voters. The couple decided to sell. “It’s a family decision that we made,” Edwards said.
Wedding Cake House on the market for $2.65M
The eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom home sits on 2.23 acres and has more than 300 feet of frontage along the Kennebunk River, according to the online listing.
Built in 1825, the Wedding Cake House is among the most photographed properties in the state of Maine. The home is formally known as the George W. Bourne House and gets its nickname from its wedding cake-like appearance.
According to local legend, Bourne, a sea captain and shipbuilder, had the house built to “atone for having not taken his bride, Jane, on a proper honeymoon.”
Contributing: Sara Chernikoff, Ramon Padilla