A Grand Old Lady Gets A Facelift

By Nancy K. Crevier

For close to 200 years, the house has stood proudly, the center of a farming family’s life, the birthplace of a man who would record the town’s early history, and a notable mainstay as the road that ran past it grew from a dusty dirt track to a busy thoroughfare. It is a grand building with ornate appointments surrounded on nearly all sides by modern structures that make up the developing business area.

There are people in town who know the stately home at 84 South Main Street as “The Manz House,” where the late Leonard Manz, organist emeritus at the Newtown Congregational Church, made his home. Others recall the pre-Victorian farmhouse as “The Johnson Farm.” Newcomers to Newtown may not even have noticed the house half-hidden behind a stand of overgrown pine trees and bushes just south of the Elm Drive intersection with Route 25.

The house was built in 1830 by Ezra H. Johnson for his son, Charles. In 1869, Charles’s son Ezra L. Johnson, who would become known as Newtown’s first town historian, acquired the property from his father and eight years later, most of the scanty literature about the South Main Street homestead notes that the house was “reconstructed.”

Present day town historian Dan Cruson speculated that any changes to the house at that time were actually what would now be referred to as a “renovation” rather than “reconstruction.”

“The 1876 reconstruction could have been when the addition went on the back of the house, and it was not uncommon at that time for homeowners to add Victorian appointments to an otherwise plain farmhouse,” Mr Cruson said. The two over two windows in the house date from the style of the late 1800s, he added. “It would make sense that the windows would have been replaced at that time.” It is also likely that the bow windows on the south side of the house were added at the time of the renovations, said Mr Cruson.

Town deeds show that in 1876, Ezra L. Johnson acquired the right to a spring on the property, and it is at that time that running water was brought into the house for the first time.

In 1923, following the passing of Ezra L. and Jane Eliza Johnson, a son, William, inherited 84 South Main Street from his parents, his two brothers Charles, Jr, and Frederick having quit-claimed the property to him.

The South Main Street house was occupied for a century by members of the Johnson family, passing out of the Johnson family for the first time in 1932, when William sold the home to Wladyslaw Karcezenski, who held the property until it was purchased by Leonard and Shirley Manz in 1949. Members of the Manz family lived there until Leonard Manz’s death in 2004, when the family decided to put the house on the market.

And in recent months, the old home has reappeared from behind the shady shroud of trees, stripped of its many layers of paint. Judy Fisher and Andy Wiggin of Newtown bought the property in late December 2006 and began renovations shortly thereafter, with Mr Wiggin acting as general contractor. “We were told how much Mr and Mrs Manz loved the house and the property. Clearly, there was a lot of love in this house at one time. I see this house as an opportunity to hold onto a piece of Newtown history,” said Ms Fisher, who lives in Newtown and owns LMT Communications in Monroe, the publisher of a dental journal.

“I love old houses,” explained Ms Fisher, as to how she and her life partner, Mr Wiggin, came to own the Johnson Farm. “I drive up and down this strip [Route 25] constantly, and I had always noticed this house. I was so excited when I saw the For Sale sign.”

The couple was unaware of the historic significance of the house when they first looked at it. “I googled Ezra L. Johnson and found out he was the first historian in Newtown. Then we talked a little to Dan Cruson and he steered us to a copy of the book Newtown’s History by Mr Johnson and his wife, and another book, Newtown Remembered, that told us a little about the house,” said Ms Fisher.

A Bit Of History

The prospect of owning a bit of Newtown’s history was thrilling, so they hired an expert in antique homes to look at the house and were pleased when he pronounced it a fine specimen. “It’s not one of those big, fancy Victorians, but you can see that it was well-built,” Mr Wiggin observed.

But after 177 years of existence, the house where Ezra L. Johnson was born in 1832 did not come without its problems.

“We took off two layers of rotting asphalt and cedar shingles and reshingled the roof first,” said Mr Wiggin, “and replaced the Yankee gutters that were allowing water to rot the wood.” The roofline had to be slightly adapted to prevent future damage, but even so, they were able to preserve the decorative roof supports that lend character to the building’s exterior. “Preserving the integrity of the house is important to us,” said Ms Fisher.

With the expert guidance of Ted Dobenz of White Hills Painters, Ms Fisher and Mr Wiggin determined that the more than five layers of paint that coated the exterior would be taken down to bare wood in preparation of a new coat of paint. At this point, they are still up in the air as to what that color might be. Mr Dobenz and Mr Wiggin, said Ms Fisher, are leaning toward the classic white with the original shutters recovered from the attic painted black, but she is hoping to see a little bit of color tint the clapboard.

Inside, the structure of the home tells of its reconstruction in 1876. “We think that that is when the addition at the back was put on, or rebuilt,” Ms Fisher said, corroborating Mr Cruson’s thoughts. “The rest of the house is post and beam construction, but the back part is not. It’s hard to say.”

The floors of chestnut, oak, fir, and pine, some of which had been painted, all needed to be stripped as part of the extensive renovations to the 14 rooms that make up the 3,100-square-foot old home. They will receive a protective polyurethane coating when the refurbishing nears its completion. The sturdy walls have been patched and plastered, and baseboards repaired where radiators took a chunk out of the floor trim.

The fireplaces will remain, Ms Fisher said, but only as decorative fixtures. The badly damaged chimneys were removed. “It is a safety issue, too. We would not want the place to catch on fire,” said Ms Fisher. Plumbing, heating, and electricity must all be brought up to code, as well, the couple said, and the septic must be replaced.

“The only things to be truly modernized, though, will probably be the bathrooms and kitchen,” Ms Fisher said, and even in the baths, she hopes to be able to keep the pull chain tank in the first floor bathroom, and ball and claw tub in the upstairs bathroom.

A Place With Character

There are characteristics of an old house that are endearing to them, such as the built-in cupboard in the kitchen, floorboards of varying widths, and two staircases leading to the second floor. “We were told that up the back stairs were the rooms for the slaves,” Mr Wiggin said, “but I don’t know that the Johnsons had slaves or servants.”

(According to a catalog of Newtown slaves for which any records existed listed in The Slaves of Central Fairfield County by Dan Cruson, the Johnsons did not own slaves.)

A few remnants of the farm remained on the property when they took possession, said Mr Wiggin and Ms Fisher. “There is an old apple press in the entryway and we have found a hay rake and a harrow.” Apple trees that made up the Johnson orchard still grow on the 4.3 acres behind the house, and beneath thorny bramble thickets, they said, blueberry bushes continue to thrive.

Working on the antique home has its challenges, said Mr Wiggin, a former workshop teacher who has built new homes, but generally he has found this project to be moving along smoothly. “In a way it is nicer than working on a new building project. You have a roof over your head already, and heat inside. It has caused some complications with the rewiring, but it’s not too bad.” He estimates that with a lot of the time-consuming renovations out of the way or underway already, that it will only be a few more months before the work is finished.

The project will exceed a cost of $100,000 by the time they have completed the work, said the couple, but they see the preservation of the house as a way to honor the historic Johnson family. “It deserves to be an admired place,” said Ms Fisher.

When the final coat of paint has dried and the last worker drives away, though, Ms Fisher and Mr Wiggin have still not definitely determined the future of the home.

“We plan to keep it residential for now,” said Ms Fisher, noting that despite the many businesses surrounding it, 84 South Main Street is still in a strictly residential zone. If the right renter can be found, the Johnson Farm could once more be filled with the laughter and activities of a family. It is also a possibility that they will part with the property when the renovations are done, they said.

“How fitting is it for a publisher to be involved in a writer’s historic home?” asked Ms Fisher. “It is going to be a beautiful example of old Newtown when we are finished with it. But honestly, I don’t see it as suitable anymore as a home. It is on a very busy road, and all around it are businesses. If the area is rezoned, we would like to move a business in there. The home’s best future might be for it to be maintained as a business,” Ms Fisher said. “It is important to honor the past, but you still need to move forward.”