Rich Cribs: William Levitt, Levittown creator, built Rockville Centre home first

This Rockville Centre Tudor is no typical Levitt house. The 1930 structure, with its dual brick turrets, was built and owned by William Levitt.

Years before he created post-World War II suburbia in Levittown, Levitt, along with his father and brother, built the upscale Strathmore development in Rockville Centre. William lived in this home, which is listed with Steven Rainone of Netter Real Estate for $1.299 million.

Sellers Paul and Tracy Riley embellished the classic architecture of the four-bedroom, 3½-bathroom home, installing hand-cut stone on the walls of the foyer and living room, building stone benches beneath all the bedroom windows and exposing wood beams that had been covered by plaster.

“We tried to take it back to what it was, give it more of an English look,” says Paul Riley, who hails from England, the  home of the Tudor-style

The Rileys updated the bathrooms and kitchen, keeping the original sea-foam green tile in one of the bathrooms. They also built the stone bar in the finished basement, which serves as a “soccer cave” for Paul Riley, a former professional soccer player who is head coach of the New York Fury, a professional women’s soccer club.

Riley says the kitchen pantry includes an area where Levitt reportedly used to sit and do all of his work.