There are good reasons why Tudors have survived for so long. In fact, this house style continues to reinvent itself both in England, where it originated, and here in Fairfield County, where a few well-designed homes built in the 1920s are in big demand. “While there are many Tudors in Westchester County, Bronxville and Tuxedo Park, they’re rare in Connecticut, and that affects the laws of supply and demand,” says Carol Hollyday of William Pitt Sotheby’s in New Canaan. Barbara Cleary of Barbara Cleary’s Realty Guild agrees there’s a good market for these unique houses. “The style is often imitated, but you can feel the graciousness and depth of history that comes with an authentic design” Two one-of-a-kind Tudors are on the market in our area.
Rock Ledge
There’s a romantic, fairy-tale aura to Rock Ledge, a 6,162-square-foot stone, stucco and timbered Tudor manor house with leaded glass windows on a two-acre site in New Canaan. Designed and constructed in 1920 for a Park Avenue doctor, the three-level home is built into a hillside and surrounded by stone walls, terraces and magnificent trees. A new wing by Shope Reno Wharton Architects in Greenwich adds a state-of-the-art kitchen, informal dining area with turret, family room, two new bedrooms and a family room/study with balcony on the second level. The original wing has gracefully proportioned public rooms with lots of light, multiple fireplaces, three bedrooms and a master suite. $1,795,000. William Pitt Sotheby’s, New Canaan, 203-966-2633
Quiet Lake is a true sportsman’s estate.
Quiet Lake
This quintessential sportsman’s estate sits on 154 acres spanning the New Canaan/ Wilton border. In addition to the 10,000-square-foot Tudor house, the property includes a state-of-the-art equestrian barn designed by Bartholomew Voorsanger with walls of butternut wood and mahogany beams, a riding arena, seven paddocks and five miles of gravel horse trails. For fishermen, there are two freshwater lakes, a pond and a stocked trout stream. Quiet Lake also has a pool, a pool house, two guest cottages and two helicopter landing areas. The seventeen-room main house has eleven bedrooms and baths, plus spacious public rooms with intricate, hand-crafted millwork. The price: an extraordinary $42,000,000, reportedly the highest price and largest property ever listed in the New Canaan/Wilton area. Barbara Cleary’s Realty Guild, 203-966-7772; Higgins Group, higginsgroup.com