Set above the Atlantic, Balmoral is not just a house but a fragment of another era. Built in 1930 as the summer residence of businessman and former New Hampshire governor Huntley N. Spaulding, the estate carries the quiet dignity of New England: elegant yet understated and designed to impart a sense of permanence.

The architecture reflects that stately sensibility, with a classic Colonial Revival facade that gives way to interiors scaled for both gracious entertaining and relaxed family living. And with more than 12,000 square feet over three floors (two above ground, one below), the house has six bedrooms and an equal number of bathrooms, plus four powder rooms.

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A 36-foot-long entrance gallery opens to an ocean-view formal sitting room with a fireplace—one of half a dozen throughout the house—along with a spacious sunroom lined in lattice panels. Elsewhere is a fireside study painted tomato red, a walk-in wet bar, a dining room wrapped in delicate wallpaper depicting slender marsh reeds, and a wood-paneled library. Complemented by a large butler’s pantry and a built-in dining banquette, the kitchen flows into a casual dining area and family room. Off to one side is an oversized mudroom with hard-wearing brick floors and an integrated dog-washing station.

Three of the guest bedrooms have private bathrooms and two others share a compartmentalized Jack-and-Jill bath, while the primary suite occupies its own wing of the upper level, comprising a bedroom, a private sitting room, two fitted dressing rooms, and two bathrooms. Another of the home’s unique features is a walk-in closet custom-fitted as a gift-wrapping room.

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A major reconstruction and later updates carefully reworked the home for modern living, layering in amenities like a wine cellar, a fitness space, and updated guest quarters, all without disturbing the symmetry and restraint that define its original character. The grounds offer vast carpets of emerald lawns, clipped hedging, and a four-car carriage house with a garden bath and a second-floor studio apartment for guests or staff with a full kitchen and bath.

Balmoral, priced at $20 million and available via Tony Jalbert of Tate & Foss Sotheby’s International Realty, presides over 3.1 acres within Little Boar’s Head, a small enclave in the seaside community of North Hampton that has, for over a century, attracted a particular kind of resident. This is not where celebrities or attention-seekers come to see and be seen, but rather an under-the-radar spot favored by financial power players, political figures, and low-profile multi-generational families. Homes here are often held for decades and frequently pass quietly, introduced to the market when timing, rather than necessity, dictates a change.

Click here for more photos of the historic coastal estate in New Hampshire.