Former Foster Family House, DAR Chapter House on the Market in Southampton

In 1996, dentist and professor Farhad Hakimi bought the former Foster family homestead at 264 South Main Street in Southampton Village and restored and expanded on the historic house. Now, the 8,000-square-foot traditional is ready for its next owner.

The eight-bedroom, 8.5-bath home sits on 1.31 acres of prime village real estate. Back when Hakimi purchased the property, it had belonged to the Daughters of the American Revolution, and his friends thought he was making a big mistake.

“Everybody looked at the house and told me that I’m crazy to buy a house like that,” he recalled during a recent interview.

He said it was “just a shack” with no usable shower or bathroom and no heat or cooling. But he loved Southampton and had looked for a house for many years before he found this opportunity. He said he wouldn’t be able to find such a location in the village again — five minutes to the village center and five minutes to the ocean — and he knew he’d be able to make a beautiful house there.

Hakimi said that by working with good contractors, good architects and a good lawyer, he was able to build onto the house while maintaining its historic look.

The front section of the house, including wood beams and main entrance door, were preserved. Windows and other doors were replaced in kind. Two bedrooms and the hall in the oldest part of the house have exposed beams that he believes are 300 years old, Hakimi said, while on the second floor are sections he pegs at 100 to 150 years old, with similar beams.

“It wasn’t easy for me,” he said of the project. “It takes a lot of time and money and energy, and coming here and building — whether in the summertime or wintertime — it took me three years to do this house.”

The process included lifting the house to add a basement that could accommodate the heating and air conditioning systems. Hakimi said that due to the size of the house, he used a geothermal system that is normally made for commercial development.

According to the Southampton History Museum, the house dates back to 1695. Mary Cummings, the museum’s research center manager, wrote last month that it was part of the Foster family’s vast property holdings — which reached about 1,500 acres by 1862.

Edward H. Foster, an eight-generation Foster who served as town clerk, lived at 264 South Main Street while he rented out cottages on his property. He sold the home in the 1920s to Prohibition repeal leader Pauline Sabin, who would later donate the house to the Southampton Colony chapter of the DAR for their use as a chapter house.

Hakimi said that now that his kids are grown with children and houses of their own, this house is too big for his family.

“It gives us love and warmth,” he said. “To us, being here and coming with my friends, my family, my grandchildren — everybody loves this and everybody’s upset because I’m selling the house.”

The house is listed for $11.95 million with Pat Garrity of Corcoran.