Put Your Walking Shoes On For Saturday’s

Historic Homes And Gardens Tour

By Shannon Hicks

Local history buffs and those who enjoy looking at the interiors and decorative schemes of private homes are in for a treat this weekend. So are those with green thumbs or even those who wish (including yours truly) to possess such an appendage.

Newtown Historical Society has once again coordinated a self-guided tour of historic homes and gardens in Newtown. This year’s tour, the tenth such event for the benefit of the historical society, will be Saturday, July 10, between 11 am and 5 pm.

Tickets are $20 each and have been on sale for a few weeks. Those that are still available will be sold on Saturday at The Matthew Curtiss House, 44 Main Street. Tickets are accompanied by a map with directions to the properties. This year’s tour includes five homes — two circa 1700 homes and gardens, an 1800s barn recently converted into a house, a 25-acre estate, and a recently restored 1800s home that was once part of Fairfield Hills Hospital — and three magnificent gardens.

Docents will be situated at each home and garden on the tour. These volunteers will offer brief histories of the properties they are assigned to, and will try to answer visitors’ additional questions.

As in past years, all proceeds from the homes and gardens tour will go toward the preservation and ongoing maintenance of the Matthew Curtiss House Museum and the educational programs sponsored by Newtown Historical Society, which is a nonprofit organization.

Because these are privately owned homes and gardens, it is requested that homes are not visited before or after the specific hours of Saturday’s tour. The properties will be open only to ticket holders between the posted tour hours.

This Year’s Homes—

 Deanna Young and Mark Belanger

1 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook

The Colonial house that is the home to this married couple dates positively back to circa 1795, but may be as old as 1750. It is an extant example of 18th Century architecture.

The dwelling has a central chimney piercing its side gabled roof. There is another chimney exterior to the north elevation. Dental molding is apparent under the eaves (front of house). Rudimentary wooden gutters were removed by the couple.

They also converted a former gas chandelier in the entrance hall to electricity; two of the hall’s sconces are original.

At the time the couple purchased the house there was not a floor in the dining room. They used barn wood to replace the missing floor.

There is a fireplace and stone hearth that are original to the house, and a beehive oven with a wooden door.

Ms Young designed the new kitchen. The kitchen area is a one-story shed-roof addition that was recently rebuilt to look like an original addition.

At the far end of the kitchen is a full bath and laundry room. The shower and laundry area is concealed to give the room the look of a powder room.

Windows are 12 by 12 sash on the first floor, 12 by 8 on the second floor, and 6 by 6 sash under the gables, which was noted as being on this house in the late 20th Century. Although the windows appear original, they are now 12 by 6 on the first floor, indicating they have been changed.

There is a one-story shed-roof addition in the back of the house. Another one-story shed-roof addition is at the east side of the north elevation. This area is now used as a library and the aforementioned bath/laundry area.

The property includes a barn and outhouse. When the couple purchased this property in October 2002, there were approximately 20 smaller outbuildings on the property. Those have been removed but what is probably an original outhouse remains. The barn is also original.

When the Ms Young and Mr Belanger had the stone walls repaired they found a large stone with the name Jeremiah carved into it. That stone is now placed in the driveway entering from Jeremiah (on the right side).

Patience Farm

Robert & Kathy Geckle

35 Queen Street, Newtown

Patience Farm is the name of the property that has been the focus of a major undertaking since April 2002, when Mr and Mrs Geckle purchased the lot at 35 Queen Street from the Town of Newtown. The land was part of the half-mile strip along the eastern side of Queen Street that contained six homes and eight lots purchased by the town from the state five years ago.

The Queen Street homes once housed staff members of the former Fairfield Hills Hospital. Following the closing of the hospital, however, the houses stood empty for more than ten years. The town offered the properties during two public auctions — four homes were sold in April 2002, and the others were sold two months later.

Patience Farm also pays homage to the former patients of the state hospital who worked in the garden and grounds, laundry and kitchen.

Mr Geckle’s father had been business manager for Fairfield Hills Hospital. Mr Geckle had lived at 35 Queen Street from the time he was 7 years old until he left for college.

The house itself is circa 1820, and its barn is circa 1850–60. The property is now a two-acre parcel, although it was once part of a much larger 19th Century farm complex, the Lovell Farm site.

The house rests on a stone block foundation.

Prior to the Geckle purchase and renovations there were several additions to the farmhouse. The original 1820 structure had the front door located to the right of where the door is today. There is a window today where the door was originally situated.

It is believed there was an addition to the left side of the house about ten years after the original structure was built. This is where the dining room and early kitchen are located.

Also prior to the Geckle purchase there was a 1½-story addition to the south elevation and a one-story addition on the southeast elevation. When the Geckles purchased the house two years ago it was — as were all of the Queen Street properties — uninhabitable. Mr and Mrs Geckle worked closely with local architect John Madzula in updating and renovating their home.

There is a lot to be discovered at this house, which ticket-holders will see for themselves.

Sandy & Ellie Neiman

53 Brushy Hill Road, Newtown

The Neimans live in a pristine circa 1790 homestead situated on almost five acres. The Colonial-style house is significant as a well-preserved example of an outlying farm dwelling — the homestead originally featured more than 80 acres.

The most recent renovations, in 2001 to the kitchen area, tastefully incorporated the 21st Century with the home’s past.

The exquisite gardens were designed and installed by Mrs Neiman, who is a certified master gardener and landscaper.

Amberfield Farm

Dr Brian Silverlieb

21 Platts Hill Road, Newtown

An outstanding example of a modern-day gentleman’s farm, Dr Silverlieb’s dwelling is situated on 25 acres. The original parcel was ten acres and Dr Silverlieb has expanded the grounds to their current size over the years. The property is also home to horses, goats, and sheep.

It is not surprising that Dr Silverlieb lives on such a setting, given that the longtime resident was the founder of Mt Pleasant Hospital for Animals.

Amberfield Farm includes a guesthouse, post-and-beam barn, and paddocks. Dr Silverlieb built the barn himself, using beams that had been hand hewn.

The grounds and gardens are meticulous and the main house has an unrivaled charm with two indoor atriums, each with its own garden and aqua settings.

Dr Silverlieb has lived at Amberfield Farm since 1981, when he bought the property from Eberhard and Jacqueline (nee Madeline Hewes) Von Jarochowski, who established the site in 1940.

The Von Jarochowskis were both painters; Mrs Von Jarochowski used her maiden name, Madeline Hewes, professionally. Among their honors, Mr Von Jarochowski painted murals on the QE2 and Mrs Von Jarochowski’s works were purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paul Mellon, and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Two of the Ms Hewes’s paintings, according to information obtained by tour coordinator Jo-Ann Scebold, were sold by Sotheby’s in its Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Estate Auction in April 1996. “Arat in Desert Seated on Carpet with Tiger,” which has been estimated at $300/400, sold for $43,700, and “Catfish Crad,” estimated to sell for $300/500, sold for $29,900.

Ms Scebold also discovered that the couple appears to have been very active in Newtown and in the New York community during the late 40s and 50s. The couple designed a set for an educational film on social graces, called Table Manners. The film, which featured etiquette expert Emily Post as its narrator, was show at the former Rolab Studio on Walnut Tree Hill Road in 1947.

In 1953 Mr Von Jarochowski had a one-artist show at Joyce Memorial Library in Brookfield Center, and Ms Hewes showed her work in New York City galleries at The Carnegie International Show in Pittsburgh.

Mr Von Jarochowski was also connected with The Town Players.

Gary Zemola

4 Jeremiah Road, Sandy Hook

Just across the street from Ms Young and Mr Belanger is Gary Zemola’s property, which features a 19th Century barn of post-and-beam construction that originally stood in Monroe.

Dan Long, an artist and former resident at 1 Jeremiah, had the barn disassembled and then rebuilt at its current location. The barn then served as the space of Mr Long’s former antiques business, and also served as partial storage space. During 1999-2000 the barn was renovated and made into a residence. Additions included a fireplace with four flutes, three bedrooms, a laundry room, restrooms, and a garage.

Mr Zemola purchased the property in March and has already updated the kitchen with commercial-quality appliances.

Additional features of the house are its post-and-beam construction that allows the barn to maintain its strength even after having been moved and renovated, chestnut beams that were hand-hewed, and the number of original (or replaced with vintage glass) windows.

The Gardens—

Ellen & Frank LaPak, Jr

21 South Main Street, Newtown

The meticulously maintained gardens at 21 South Main Street have been entertaining the LaPaks for years, and occasionally manage to catch the eyes of alert drivers as they pass the tidy home and yard on the corner of Laurel Road. What started as the placement of a beehive a number of years ago has sprouted into a miniature bee skep garden on the southeast corner of the property that seems to have been given more room and accoutrements with each passing season.

Around the back of the home, however, is even more of a treat. The gardens offer a variety of themes including perennial, herb, and shade. Each is beautifully incorporated with appropriate garden architecture, creating a spacious and harmonious effect.

 

 Brid Craddock & Harvey Pessin

59 Main Street, Newtown

This house, which is five houses north of Edmond Town Hall, dates to circa 1790, as stated in the 1969 Report of the Historic District Study Committee, Borough of Newtown, CT. The Assessor’s Office street card notes the building’s date as 1749, however.

It is believed that the house was remodeled during the 1800s. It is also thought to have originally been a Blackman house. In an 1867 atlas, the house is depicted as being one of four structures under the name of J. Blackman, whose residence was at 61 Main Street — the building directly next door to the north.

The house’s original front entrance and probably the second floor window above were removed and the entrance was relocated to the front of the house, where the gable-roofed wing was added at the southeast corner. The entryway has five horizontally-oriented lights above it and plain Doric pilasters on either side.

In the 1960s a one-story shed-roof addition and a two-car garage were added to the rear at the southwest corner

The married couple moved into their historic Main Street home five years ago, in 1999.

Ms Craddock is a certified Connecticut master gardener. For the past two years she has grown and then offered for sale during mid-May hundreds of Newtown-grown perennial flowering plants including a number of deer-resistant offerings.

A member of The Garden Club of Newtown, one of Ms Craddock’s long-term projects has been the restoration of the period garden at the Matthew Curtiss House, which was designed more than 30 years ago and never completed. Ms Craddock also designed a knot garden that was installed at Dickinson Park two years ago.

Drs Martin & Micheline Williams

92 Head O’ Meadow Road, Newtown

Visitors to this property (on the Head O’ Meadow Road that juts off Sugar Lane, just before Scudder Road from Route 302/Sugar Street) cannot help but enjoy the perennial border gardens that were planted by Dr (Micheline) Williams.

The gardens are of English cottage style, and Dr Williams works only with organic materials.

There is a stream and bridge, plus perennial, shade, and butterfly gardens.