The Dina Merrill House in East Hampton doesn’t blend into the background of the luxury market. It carries the weight of Old Hollywood, East Coast aristocracy, and a century of American wealth — all housed in a design that defies the typical Hamptons playbook.
When the estate came to market after Merrill’s passing in 2017, it drew immediate attention — not just for its prime beachfront location, but for the singular life lived within its walls. At $8.2 million, the sale marked the end of a six-decade chapter for one of the most storied private residences on the East End.
Who Was Dina Merrill?
Born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton in 1923, Dina Merrill was the daughter of two American powerhouses: Marjorie Merriweather Post, the Post Cereals heiress and one of the wealthiest women in the country, and E.F. Hutton, the Wall Street financier who built a brokerage empire. She grew up in a world of estates, yachts, and boardrooms — but chose to carve out her own identity in front of the camera.
Over a career spanning five decades, Merrill appeared in more than 100 films and television productions, including Desk Set (1957), The Sundowners (1960), and Caddyshack (1980). Critics often compared her to Grace Kelly — poised, blonde, effortlessly elegant — and the label stuck. But Merrill was never content to be just a screen presence. She served on corporate boards, supported arts organizations, and remained deeply involved in philanthropy throughout her life.
Her homes, like her career, reflected a woman who valued substance as much as style.
Location: A Private Stretch of East Hampton Dunes
The Dina Merrill House sits on West Dune Lane in the heart of East Hampton Village — an address that places it among the most coveted stretches of coastline on the East End. The one-acre parcel backs directly onto the dunes with private beach access, putting the Atlantic Ocean steps from the back door.
East Hampton has long attracted the upper echelon of American society, from Wall Street titans to Hollywood royalty. The hamlet offers the kind of quiet prestige that doesn’t announce itself — winding lanes, towering hedgerows, and a village center that still feels like a small town despite the fortunes concentrated within it. The nearby Maidstone Club, one of the most exclusive members-only clubs in the country, adds another layer of elite neighborhood pedigree. Properties in this area command premium prices due to limited inventory and the region’s enduring appeal among high-profile buyers.
Merrill purchased the property in 1957 and held it for sixty years. In an area where homes change hands every few seasons, that kind of tenure speaks volumes about her connection to the place.
Architecture: A Rare California Contemporary in the Hamptons
Most Hamptons estates lean heavily on tradition — shingle-style colonials, gambrel-roofed manors, and white clapboard farmhouses dominate the landscape. The Dina Merrill House breaks that mold entirely.
Built in 1957, the residence is a single-story California contemporary — a style almost unheard of in the Hamptons at the time and still uncommon today. The design emphasizes horizontal lines, open floor plans, and a seamless relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls flood the interior with natural light and frame views of the dunes and ocean beyond. Wide-plank floors, exposed structural elements, and clean sight lines give the home a mid-century modern character that feels both relaxed and intentional.
It’s a house built for living in, not just looking at. The single-story layout eliminates the formality of staircases and segmented rooms, replacing them with a free-flowing plan that moves naturally from living areas to outdoor terraces. For a woman who split her time between Manhattan, Los Angeles, and the open sea aboard the family yacht Sea Cloud, this kind of effortless indoor-outdoor living was exactly right.
Interior Design: Where Hollywood Met East Coast Ease
Step inside and the first thing you notice is the light. The glass walls don’t just offer ocean views — they transform the entire interior into a space that feels open to the elements while remaining perfectly sheltered.
The main living area centers around a fireplace, grounding the airy room with warmth during East Hampton’s cooler months. The open-plan layout connects living and dining areas without formal boundaries, creating a space that works equally well for quiet evenings reading and large-scale entertaining. Merrill was known for hosting friends, family, and fellow artists, and the home’s layout reflects that social instinct.
The kitchen was designed for someone who actually cooks — ample counter space, professional-grade appliances, and a direct line of sight to the garden. Bedrooms are dressed in soft, coastal tones: whites, pale blues, natural linens. Nothing fussy, nothing that competes with the view.
Throughout the home, Merrill layered personal touches that gave the space its character:
- Original artwork and travel acquisitions collected over decades of international living
- Family photographs and heirlooms connecting the house to the Post-Hutton dynasty
- Fresh-cut flowers in nearly every room — a habit her mother was also known for
- Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined with scripts, novels, and art monographs
The result is a home that feels collected rather than decorated, lived-in rather than staged.
Grounds and Outdoor Living
The one-acre property makes the most of its dune-side setting without overbuilding the landscape. Native plantings and mature trees provide privacy from neighboring lots, while the natural topography of the dunes creates a visual buffer that separates the house from the beach path.
A broad terrace extends the living space outdoors, with room for dining, lounging, and entertaining under the stars. The gardens are deliberately low-maintenance — ornamental grasses, beach roses, and wind-tolerant species that thrive in salt air without constant attention.
The private beach access is the real draw. From the back of the house, a short path winds through the dunes to a stretch of sand that remains quiet even during peak summer months. For a family that spent much of its life on the water — from the Sea Cloud to various coastal estates — this direct connection to the ocean was non-negotiable.
Market Value and Real Estate Context
When the estate sold in 2018 for $8.2 million, the transaction attracted significant attention in East Hampton real estate circles. The price was notable not because it was the highest in the area — some East Hampton oceanfront compounds command figures deep into the nine figures, like Calvin Klein’s nearby former estate, which returned to the market at $165 million — but because it represented the end of an era for a property with deep historical roots.
For context, East Hampton Village properties with private beach access and comparable acreage typically trade in the $7 million to $20 million range, depending on the condition of the structures, exact location, and market timing. The Dina Merrill House, with its celebrity provenance and architectural distinction, landed squarely within that range — a testament to its enduring appeal even without the kind of full-scale renovation that drives many Hamptons listings into record territory.
| Year | Owner | Sale Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Dina Merrill | Undisclosed | Original purchase |
| 2018 | Nedenia Rumbough & Handelman | $8.2 million | Sold following Merrill’s passing |
The Hamptons luxury market continues to attract high-net-worth buyers seeking privacy, space, and coastal living — qualities that have only grown more desirable in recent years. Properties with genuine historical significance and architectural character tend to hold their value even in shifting markets.
Dina Merrill’s Broader Real Estate Legacy
The East Hampton estate was just one piece of a much larger real estate portfolio that reflected the Post-Hutton family’s enormous wealth and far-flung lifestyle.
- Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach — Built by her mother Marjorie Merriweather Post in the 1920s, this 126-room estate was managed by the Post family trust after Post’s death in 1973 and later sold to Donald Trump in 1985.
- Hillwood Estate, Washington, D.C. — Post’s former mansion, now a museum, housed her renowned collection of Russian decorative arts and French furniture.
- The Sea Cloud — Built for the Hutton-Post family in 1931, this four-masted sailing yacht was at the time the largest private sailing vessel in the world.
- Manhattan residence — Like many in her social circle, Merrill maintained a New York City apartment for the theater season and professional commitments.
- Brentwood, Los Angeles — Shared with her third husband, actor-producer Ted Hartley, this property reflected her ongoing ties to the entertainment industry.
- Additional East Hampton properties, including addresses on Egypt Lane and Egypt Close that extended the family’s footprint in the area.
Each of these properties served a different chapter of an extraordinarily full life — from childhood on Long Island to Hollywood sets, Wall Street boardrooms, and international waters.
Final Thoughts
The Hamptons have no shortage of celebrity homes. Beyoncé and Jay-Z hold a compound near Georgica Pond. Brooke Shields owns a cottage in Southampton. Neil Patrick Harris sits on 13.5 acres in East Hampton. The region is a magnet for wealth and fame, and the real estate reflects it.
What sets the Dina Merrill House apart isn’t its price tag or its square footage. It’s the convergence of architectural rarity, personal history, and location. A California contemporary on the East End is unusual. A home occupied by the same owner for sixty years is nearly unheard of in a market defined by turnover. And a property directly on the dunes with private beach access in East Hampton Village is, by definition, finite.
The house tells a story — not of excess or spectacle, but of a woman who knew exactly what she wanted in a home: light, space, privacy, and the sound of the ocean. That combination hasn’t lost its appeal. If anything, in a market increasingly dominated by spec-built mega-mansions, it’s become more rare and more valuable.
