https://www.thehour.com/wilton/article/On-the-Market-Weston-house-has-ten-chimenys-and-12838778.php
On the Market / Weston house has ten chimenys and a its own secret garden
Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, April 18, 2018
WESTON — A tall quarried stone wall along a portion of Weston Road in Lower Weston obscures from view a stunning property that might well be described as a secret garden. Only in this 2.34-acre “garden” at 32 Weston Road the flowers are the numerous amenities: the 17-room Georgian colonial mansion, the barn-like garage and 1,200-square-foot guest house, the pool house, the heated Gunite in-ground swimming pool surrounded by a herringbone red brick patio, the outdoor shower, 12 fireplaces - two of them outdoors, and its own secret garden with actual perennial plantings.
The storybook setting along Crystal Lake enjoys 147-feet of water frontage, and probably could have sprung from the brushes of noteworthy artist John Held Jr. were he not so busy illustrating iconic Roaring Twenties scenes for dozens of covers of Life magazine or drawing cartoons for The New Yorker and Vanity Fair when he owned this house beginning in 1924. “Held’s artwork helped to define the Roaring Twenties era of the short-haired, bead-twirling, fun-loving flapper,” according to an article on the Washington University website.
Held and his wife “lived and entertained in high style at the former Coley homestead, which they renovated and enlarged according to the tastes of the times,” according to documentation from the Weston Historical Society. Held is among a long list of owners who once called this place ‘home,’ beginning with the Coley family in the early 19th century.
Fittingly, the house is owned today by an artist and that creativity and whimsy that was introduced by Held is evident throughout the house and even at the driveway entrance, where stone pillars are topped with carved stone cherubs. The unique architectural detailing and décor elements are exquisite throughout including in the decorative light fixtures, the etched glass parlor windows, the hand-carved marble mantels of two fireplaces, the ornate tiger wood oak paneled custom library with a wet bar, the Mackenzie Childs liquid glass countertop in the pool house. The kitchen itself is a work of art straddling old and new with its exposed hand-hewn beams and bake oven in the original fireplace to the Dynasty six-burner range with griddle and double ovens, and commercial-sized refrigerator/freezer. The current owner added hand-painted touches to the walls and floor of the rear entrance and the first floor powder room.
At one time the property comprised 120 acres, called Great Plain, along a spring that was operated as a gravel pit. The dredging of the small Held’s Pond, as it was once called, resulted in today’s beautiful Crystal Lake, on which this property has a private dock or mooring. The house was built in 1844 and was considered substantial then even without all the subsequent additions that brings it to its current 12,186 square feet.
“The granite foundation on which it stands contributes to a feeling of solidity and security both physically and financially. The pride and love that Levi D. Coley had for his bride (Sarah Nichols) show in the house he has built for her, as obvious to the casual passer-by as to the invited guest,” according to historical society document. Nichols grew up in a Federal-style house at 183 Good Hill Road and the house Coley built for her, in which they raised their six children, may have been modeled after her childhood home, the document says.
It goes on to say that the house had fallen into disrepair by the late 20th century. In 1992 it was purchased by Delores and Alexander Spitzer, who renovated and expanded the house “with pride and love to surely rival that with which Levi D. Coley built it for his bride over a century and a half ago.” The document says the Spitzer’s renovation brought the house “back to its prior important status.”
From the Historic Building Record, researched and prepared by Louis Bregy in 1998 for the Weston Historical Society, there is evidence to suggest the original first floor plan has not changed significantly, although the spacious formal living room has two fireplaces. That fact and the placement of windows indicates that they were once two separate rooms.
“Fine window woodwork is found throughout the first floor both inside and out, Bregy said. His report also shows that “The cellar did contain some surprises starting with a quarried stone foundation. The only other stone foundation now known in Weston is beneath the c. 1860 Italianate mansion at 110 Lyons Plains Road built by Miles Bradley during the last prosperous days of the Edge Tool Company.”
The house contains five bedrooms in the main house and one bedroom in guest house. The large master suite features a fireplace and a private balcony. French doors in several rooms lead to covered porches and patios affording breath-taking water views. The pool house has full gourmet kitchen to enhance outdoor entertaining.
For more information or to make an appointment to see the house contact Cindy Saul or Barbara Vinograd of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage; Saul at 203-610-0596 or cindys716@aol.com, and Vinograd at 203-913-1138 or Barbara.vinograd@cbmoves.com.
