Holiday Festival House Tour Previews

When Newtown’s Holiday Festival returns on Sunday, December 3, four private residences will join the tradition of opening their front doors for public visits. Each of the homes on this year’s tour has been selected for its historic significance to the town and/or being an example of well-maintained classic architecture.

A local florist will gaily decorate each home on the tour for the holiday season. Volunteers will greet visitors to each home, guiding groups through the rooms and answering questions Sunday afternoon.

Visitors are asked to respect the fact these are private homes and not touch anything during their visits, nor venture into areas that might be closed off.

Admission to the historic homes tour will be with a Holiday Festival ticket. Tickets can be purchased for $12 through Saturday at C.H. Booth Library at 25 Main Street, Newtown Savings Bank at 39 Main Street, and Family Counseling Center at 121 Mt Pleasant Road.

Tickets for seniors and children are $8 each. On Sunday, tickets for adults will be $15 each and can be purchased at the box office at Edmond Town Hall and at the library.

For details concerning other buildings on the tour, and the other events and activities being featured during the 15th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival, see the Enjoy pages of this week’s Newtown Bee.

 

Residence of Teddy and Dr Peter Jameson

9 Tory Lane

Decorated by Petal Pushers

House Portrait by Kimberly Day Proctor

**(Please note, this house will open at noon)

Built in 1930, 9 Tory Lane is noteworthy example of the classic Dutch Colonial. This charming home sits atop a hill alongside the site of the Tory encampment during the American Revolution and beholds sweeping views that reach as far as Brewster, New York.

Owners Teddy and Peter Jameson have lived in the home since 1983 and maintain it almost as Irving S. Jones built it 70 years ago. With features including an oversized stone fireplace, random width parquet floorboards, leaded glass windows, and original light fixtures in the foyer and living room, the home exudes character representative of Newtown during the 1930s

Town records indicate the property was deeded to Irving S. Jones in 1929 after the land he owned and farmed on Fairfield Hills Lane was seized by eminent domain to build Fairfield Hills Hospital. He continued to farm vegetables on Tory Lane for many years and built impressive gardens on the grounds with many species of trees. Dr Jameson shares that passion for gardening and has expanded the gardens over the years to include one of the most spectacular displays of spring in bloom.

Residence of Bird Craddock and Harvey Pessin

59 Main Street

Decorated by Newtown Country Mill and Garden Center

House Portrait by

 Kimberly Day Proctor

As it now stands, 59 Main Street would not strike the casual passerby as being particularly old. However, to a more practiced eye, the twin chimneys suggest a house built in pre-Colonial times, and the five-bay post and beam construction, and the second-story windows whose tops reach the eaves, suggest a Georgian house, as is almost certainly the case.

The charm of this home can be seen in the hand-hewn beams and paneling, hand cut nails, and hand blown window glass. This building is significant as an extant example of Newtown’s 18th century architecture. The Historic District Study lists the construction date as circa 1790; the street card notes a date of 1749.

The new owners, who purchased the property last year, call their home “a work in progress.” They are currently restoring the house to its original beauty including wall stenciling and a historic pattern garden.

Residence of George and Shane Miller

50 Main Street

Decorated by Lexington Gardens

House Portrait by Chris Degen

Currently the home and property at 50 Main Street are owned by George and Shane Miller, who moved to Newtown last Christmas. The Millers share 12 grown children and eight grandchildren, who all love to come and visit.

The impressive three-story Second Empire-style residence was built in 1869 by Henry Beers Glover. He and Henry Beers owned the site, which originally contained two houses. One of the houses was torn down to make way for the current house; the second house was moved across the street to what is now just north of Edmond Town Hall.

This house remained in the same family for over 100 years. Its original owner was one of the founders of Newtown Savings Bank and served as its Treasurer for most of the bank’s first 15 years. He also became a Director of First National Bank of Bridgeport, in 1859.

During his years in Newtown, Mr Beers Glover was also an active supporter of Trinity Episcopal Church, serving as a member of the building committee which oversaw the construction of the new church, completed in 1870. Mr Beers Glover also lent liberal financial support to this project.

Sadly, Henry Beers Glover did not live to enjoy his new house for very long. The home’s construction was completed in 1869, and Mr Beers Glover passed away on March 31, 1870, at the age of 45. The house descended to his wife and two daughters. When Mr Beers Glover’s widow died five years later, the two girls were left wealthy orphans and the new owners of 50 Main Street. The girls continued to share the house for years until ultimately one of the sisters, Mary B. Glover, and her husband, William J. Beecher, an attorney who served as Newtown’s Town Clerk and Judge of Probate, became the sole owners of the property.

Upon the death of the couple, the house then passed to daughter Florence Beecher, who married Stephen E. Budd. Mrs Budd lived in the house all of her life, until she died in 1977, which is why many Newtown residents know of the house as “The Budd House.”

The large Victorian residence is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Glover House, after its first owner. Among its many distinctive exterior features are the classic Corinthian columns supporting its spacious front porch and the mansard roof decorated with patterns created by the vari-colored and multi-shaped slate roofing tiles.

At the time of its construction, this was one of the largest and most impressive homes in Newtown, reflecting the prosperity and social position of its builder.

Residence of Peggy and Harold Gross

16 South Main Street

Decorated by Newtown Florists

House Portrait by  Kimberly Day Proctor

The house at 16 South Main Street, which stands on a two-acre parcel in the southeast corner of Ram Pasture, was built by Dr Lemuel Thomas, Newtown’s first physician, in 1758. Among the many subsequent owners of Ram Pasture were Judge William Edmond, after whom Newtown’s town hall was named, and Cyrenius H. Booth, the namesake of the town’s majestic library.

The two-acre lot where the house is standing passed through a sequence of 11 owners until Mary Hawley purchased it in 1926. Cyrenius Booth was her maternal grandfather, and the purchase rounded out her ownership of the full 12.5-acre Ram Pasture.  The house, by then rebuilt, was used by  Miss Hawley as quarters for her chauffeur during the last four years of her life.

The house is currently owned by Peggy and Harold Gross. Mrs Gross works as Newtown’s Probate Court clerk and Mr Gross owns an import-export chemicals company.

The name Ram Pasture was meant to reflect the time when the town herd of sheep grazed the meadow.  Sheep were one of the town’s most important agricultural concerns in the early 18th century, and the town voted in 1732 to clear the area for grazing.  However, by the time the town herd gained its greatest importance in the 1830s, Ram Pasture had been in private hands for over 60 years. There were probably few sheep that ever actually grazed on it.