A ferryboat that once took arriving immigrants from Ellis Island to Manhattan and also served in both the First and Second World Wars could be your next home for $1.25 million.
The boat was built in 1907 by a Philadelphia-based firm and was later acquired by the U.S. Navy for use in WWI and again in WWII—the country’s only ferryboat to be commandeered in both wars.
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In between the two wars, it served for several years as the Ellis Island Ferry and was later used as a tour boat, before falling into the hands of a private buyer, who began to restore it.
It was last sold in 2003 to Richard and Victoria MacKenzie-Childs, the founders of the eponymous colorful home décor firm, who then moved it to Hoboken.
The couple, who are no longer associated with MacKenzie-Childs Ltd., bought it as they needed more living space to carry out their work and have lived on it ever since, even turning it into a hotel at one point. It is currently docked in Red Hook in Brooklyn and is big enough to sleep up to 24 people.
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The 4,000-square-foot vessel, which has an impressive view of the city from the upper deck, is decorated in the couple’s eclectic style including striped poles, dock ropes and a bed right behind the steering wheel.
"We inherited a lot of what we’ve had or built it or found it so that’s what makes it amazing," Ms. MacKenzie-Childs told Mansion Global. "It would be wonderful if it could be sold as it is."