By Meg Barone Correspondent

The white colonial house at 365 Center Road near the center of Easton was built in 1927 but with an eye toward the future because this house has 9-foot ceilings and lots of closet and storage space that is generally absent from early 20th century homes.

The house sits back from the road on a three-plus-acre lot, surrounded by areas of multi-level terraces and level ground and bordered by mature deciduous and evergreen trees. Although the 2,232 square-foot house is up on a bit of a hill, the driveway is level, allowing for easy access to the house during winter snow storms.

The stone driveway is marked by two fieldstone columns topped with lanterns. The drive way widens as it nears the two car, attached, under-house garage, providing plenty of room for the company the next owner will likely entertain at this house and property. The current family, which occupied the house for 45 years, fondly remembers picnics, parties and sporting activities, including soccer and football games, and driving ATVs in the wooded areas of the property. Although not visible from the house or yard, there is also a pond in the far back part of the property, which can be used for figure skating.

Entrance into the house is gained from the garage, the back patio or the front porch. Pass the tall stone retaining walls, climb the stone steps and traverse an attractive staircase and path — both of red brick, to the covered front porch, which has two columns.

Inside, the front door opens into a small vestibule with a coat closet. The vestibule is separated from the foyer by two French doors. In the foyer there is a larger closet. To the left is the formal dining room, to the right is the formal living room and straight ahead is the staircase to the second floor, which has a bird’s nest railing and also a hallway that leads to the kitchen and a sun room.

The spacious front-to-back living room includes a floor-to ceiling oversized stone fireplace with a wood mantle and stone hearth flanked by built-in book shelves with glass-front doors.

On either side of the fireplace are entrances into other rooms. The one on the front side of the house looks like it may have been a sun room or porch at one point, but has been con verted into an office. It would also make an ideal den, library or playroom. Considering the amount of natural light this room gets, it would also make a great art studio space. This room has wall-to-wall carpeting, two walls of windows with multiple panes, and a built-in book shelf that goes from floor to ceiling. A French door separates it from the living room. This room also has wainscoting on the ceiling.

On the opposite side of the fireplace is access to another room, which is used as a den or television room. It also has two walls of windows and two sets of built-in bookshelves.

There are numerous windows in this house which bring in lots of natural light. The living and dining rooms have the same windows — four double-hung windows side by side with four panes in each of the top win dows and one large pane in the lower windows. In the dining room there is also another win dow that sits horizontally and higher up in the wall than the rest of the windows, and it has six panes. It is recessed so it creates a ledge on which to place decorative pottery and dishware.

The kitchen has a hardwood floor, ceramic tile on the lower portion of the walls and floral themed wallpaper on the rest, Formica counters, double stain less sink, built-in cabinets and a smaller counter area topped in tiny mosaic tiles of white, beige and dark brown. This tile formation is repeated on the counter in the butler’s pantry that sits between the kitchen and dining room. This area also has built-ins with glass-front cabinets and an alcove that creates a break fast nook.

Back in the kitchen, the appliances include a General Electric range. Just off the kitchen is a half bath and access to the sun room, which has two walls of windows and a door that leads into the backyard. A portion of the yard is enclosed by a chain link fence.

Upstairs, there is a French door in the landing that leads to a balcony over the sun room.

The full bath on this level is accessed through the hallway and it has a honeycomb-patterned tile floor, white ceramic subway tiles on the lower walls with a black and white border, paper on the upper walls and a combina tion tub and shower.

There is a second bath on this floor in one of the bedrooms. It is a half bath with a linoleum floor, gray tile on the lower walls with a coral-colored tile border and a floral paper on the upper walls. There is also a built-in counter area with drawers and cabinets.

There are attractive views of mature trees, shrubbery and open lawn from almost every window of this house.

For more in formation, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call Debra Kandrak at 203-581-3926, or Margaret Rotini at 203-209-2988. Both are from Kandradk & Rotini, an affiliate of William Raveis Real Estate.

By Meg Barone Correspondent

BRIDGEPORT – Spectacular sunrises and sunsets over Black Rock Harbor await the next owner of the ranch house at 65 Battery Park Drive in a sought-after location of Bridgeport.

This 2,653- square-foot house sits on an attractive property of .38 of an acre in the St. Mary’s by the Sea section of Black Rock, not far from the Black Rock Yacht Club and the beach at St. Mary’s by the Sea. According to the state of Connecticut’s Connecticut Coastal Access Guide, this beach has numerous activities for outdoor enthusiasts. Its website says, “Bring binoculars to watch the birds and wildlife at this site. There is a developed walkway (approximately 1/ 2 mile in length) for power walkers or those looking for a leisurely stroll, which provides visitors with spectacular views of Long Island Sound and Black Rock Harbor.” A parking permit is required from the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Department for visitors to this site, but local residents have the distinct advantage of being within walking distance.

Built in 1966, the house has water views from many of the rooms. Enjoy sunrises and breakfast from the long bluestone patio or the circular bluestone patio in the backyard, have lunch on the screened-in porch at the back of the house, take evening meals in the alcove off the family room or relax there at dusk when the setting sun stains the sky and water in corals, vermilions and purples.

The paved driveway widens as it gets closer to the two- car attached, under house garage, providing parking for at least a half dozen cars. You’ll want to keep that in mind because this is a versatile house. It could be someone’s full time private oasis or a weekend retreat from work in New York, or it can be a great entertaining space. There is also a winding pressed concrete path from the street to the front entrance.

At both ends of the house the exterior is red brick and the center portion has vertical wood paneling in a gray-pale sage green color. The shutters are the same color. The covered porch has a red brick foundation and there are three columns.

The front door has a decorative window of leaded, beveled and frosted glass.

Inside, there is a small ves tibule with a coat closet that opens to the entrance foyer, which has a ceramic tile floor.

To the left is the wing of the house that contains three bed rooms and the two full baths.

To the right is the kitchen and straight ahead is a sunken living room. Take one step down into this room, which features a marble fireplace with a white wood mantle detailed with den til molding, parquet floor, and crown molding.

The walls are painted in a beautiful shade of aqua to mirror the color of the nearby har bor, which is visible from this room. The living room also has four nearly floor-to-ceiling atrium windows from which to en joy that view and an atrium door to the long bluestone patio. This half of the patio has a Sundowner awning. The patio can also be accessed from the screened-in porch.

Step up into the formal dining room, which is open to the living room. From here you can access the kitchen and the family room. The kitchen has off-white ceramic tile flooring installed on a diagonal. There is an eat-in section, crown molding, light colored maple cabinets, a pantry closet, deep stainless sink and two counter areas topped in a dark-colored granite.

The spacious family room has wall-to-wall carpeting, a floor to-ceiling red brick fireplace with a raised brick hearth and wood mantle, and built-in book shelves and cubbies. The lower walls are covered in grooved wood and the upper walls are of fabric. Chair railing separates the two. There is also access to a powder room that has nautically themed wallpaper on the upper walls, a granite counter topped with a glass bowl sink and wall to-wall carpeting. Four side-by side atrium windows provide water views.

The alcove area has two sets of sliding windows, and this area provides access to the screened-in porch. The porch has a door to the bluestone patio and it also overlooks the circular patio and the beautiful border gardens of numerous, colorful perennial flowers.

Although the house has cen tral air conditioning, there are not many days when it is really necessary because of the cool ocean breezes and the configu ration of the house and its win dows, which allow for cross ventilation.

The site holds historic and cultural interest for visitors to explore.

For more information, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call John Swanson at 203- 829- 4218, or Marcia Swanson at 203-364-7577; both are from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

By Meg Barone Correspondent

BRIDGEPORT — A drive down Brooklawn Avenue in Bridgeport reveals dozens of stately homes that date back to the early 1900s, which were built for wealthy industrialists and company executives of the time.

Each house is attractive, but one among them stands out: The colonial at 245 Brooklawn Ave. The house is unusual for its Mediterranean-style exterior. The main house is white stucco with coral- colored shutters and trim. The newer addition is covered in white cedar shingles and blends in nicely with the original structure.

The house was built in 1920 in the Stratfield-Brooklawn Historic District not far from the Brooklawn Country Club. The Brooklawn neighborhood is adjacent to the Stratfield section of Fairfield. The house contains 13 rooms in 4,836 square feet of living space in the main living quarters and there are four more finished rooms in the lower-level basement.

As was customary in homes of the early 20th century, this house has separate maids’ quarters that include two rooms and a full bath. One room has been converted into a laundry room with a utility sink. This sec tion could be used as a guest suite, al though there are two other bedrooms that each has its own private full bath, either of which could also serve as a guest room. One could also be used as the master bedroom suite. All in all there are six bedrooms, not including the one that is now used for laundry.

There are also four full and two half baths. The house is zoned for residential use but there are established mixed uses of houses in the neighborhood.

One house contains a day-care center. Another is the local headquarters of a nonprofit organization. Several house businesses, a law firm, religious orga nizations and a dental office, and yet they do not disturb the quiet neigh borhood atmosphere, nor do they de tract from the residential neighbor­hood integrity. The neighborhood looks as attractive as it did decades ago.

This house could also be converted to professional use or it could remain as it is: an elegant residence. Con version for business purposes would require the buyer’s due diligence regarding the city of Bridgeport’s zon ing regulations and any necessary ap provals from city agencies.

The property actually consists of two lots. However, they total .86 of an acre and that area of Bridgeport has a half acre zoning regulation so the property probably cannot be di vided. The two lots together create a long triangular corner lot that fronts on two streets, Brooklawn and Briar wood avenues.

The house has undergone extensive interior renovation. All the original plaster has been removed from the ceilings and walls and replaced with sheetrock. New wiring and plumbing was added in the last decade.

The large kitchen, right, has an eat in section and a pantry. Below left, the front doors open into a spacious center hall entry foyer, which has decorative recessed arch areas.

Below right, an addition built in the 1930s includes a family room with wood-burning stove.The driveway and front en trance are on Brooklawn. The driveway is paved and is shared with the next- door neighbor. It leads to a widened area for the parking of about a half dozen vehicles and to a two- car de tached garage. The house sits well back from the street and from the front sidewalk there is a long red brick path to the front entrance.

There is a decorative window box on the second-floor center window just over the front en trance, which has a recessed archway and two odd-shaped doors that, when closed, form a Palladian arch which mirrors the Palladian windows in the two sunrooms, one at either end of the house. There are decora tive rafters that are scalloped and jigsawed.

The doors open into a spa cious center hall entry foyer, which has decorative recessed arch areas. Throughout the first floor there are a number of arched entryways from one room into another.

From the foyer, the formal dining room is to the right, to the left is the formal living room and the foyer also provides ac cess into an office — which can also be entered from the living room, and the foyer also has the first of three sets of stairs.

These classic stairs are extra wide — about five-feet wide, and lead to a landing halfway to the second floor with a sitting area and a large window overlooking the backyard.

There are hardwood floors throughout much of the house, but the flooring is different in various sections. In many rooms there are narrow-board oak floors. In many of the bedrooms there are maple floors and in the maids’ quarters the floors are normal-width planks of either pine or fir.

At the back of the house, ac cessed through the dining room or from the back door, is the large kitchen, which has a ce ramic tile floor, chair rail and an eat-in section. It also has a large walk-in pantry with a wood floor. This pantry, at one time, was a back porch. Appliances in clude a Thermador professional range with a griddle, a Kitche nAid dishwasher, and a GE Pro file refrigerator.

The sunrooms both have the same terra cotta- colored ce ramic tile flooring and Palladian windows.

The sunroom that is accessed through the living room is hex agonal in shape and has a fire place surrounded with the same ceramic as on the floor and a white wood mantle. The fire place in the living room is un usual with a combination of pol ished and unpolished marble, a polished marble mantle and a bluestone hearth.

Within a decade or two of the construction of this house, an addition was included. This spa cious section added a family room to the first-floor level and a bedroom with its own bath on the second floor. The fam ily room has the second set of stairs, and a large closet under those stairs.

There is also a wood stove, bay window area, lots of built-in bookshelves, cubbies and cabi nets, knotty pine wood paneling on the walls, a long wood seat with storage underneath, and two French sliding doors to the oversized rear patterned brick patio.

The patio is shaded by tall, mature trees, which also help to enclose the fenced-in backyard and obstruct views of the prop erty from the road.

Strategic landscaping further acts as a shield, providing privacy for use of the backyard and patio for outdoor casual living.

The current owners have an out door “ living” room and a fire pit set up in the section of the patio just off the family room.

The third set of stairs goes from the back hallway near the kitchen and dining room, not surprisingly, to the maids’ quar ters. There are five more bed­rooms on this floor. Two share a Jack and Jill bath that has a Biltmore black-and-white mar ble tile floor. Across the hall is a bedroom that was once used as a nursery. It has a wall of win dows, a window seat and two entrances, one on either side of the long, L-shaped hallways.

For more information, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call Ken Camarro of Century 21 Richter Real Estate at 203-258-7782.

By MEG BARONE
Correspondent

Step back in time in this vintage saltbox colonial house at 1282 Daniels Farm Road in Trumbull, originally owned by Capt. Theopolis Nichols.

Unfortunately, most of the history for this handsome red shingled house is gone. All of ficial records are believed to have been destroyed in a fire at a Stratford town building centuries ago. At one time the town of Trumbull was part of the town of Stratford.

A plaque on the front of the house suggests it was built cir ca 1740, but some think it may even date to an earlier time, perhaps in the 1720s.

One of the unsubstantiated rumors that has circulated through the centuries is that President Lincoln visited the resident of this house during his term in office. The rumor began when the presidential buggy was seen in the drive way, although Lincoln himself was not spotted during that “ visit.”

The house sits on an at tractive one-acre property at the very end of Daniels Farm Road. It has 2,296 square feet of living space inside and the grounds are set up in such a way that there is opportunity for outdoor living as well. Just off the dining room is a pri vate stone patio and just be yond that is a fieldstone fire place or barbecue. It is tucked underneath overgrown foliage, but those tree branches could easily be cut back or the trees removed altogether and the fireplace restored.

The paved driveway is bor dered in Belgian block and enters the property near the three-way intersection of Dan iels Farm Road, Moose Hill Road and McGuire Road, and provides access to the house on the right and the barn on the left. The barn is natural wood- colored and has a cu pola topped with an eagle weathervane.

The barn can accommodate two cars and it has a main level, lower-level storage area for maintenance and garden ing equipment and upper-level loft storage. The floor opens to allow for under- car access for oil changes or other auto motive work. There is also a workshop area. The driveway doesn’t end there, but circles around the back of the barn and back out to the street at a different point. This street-side area of the property has a stone wall perimeter and two pillars to mark this second driveway en trance or exit. There is also a stone wall between this prop erty and one of its neighbors.

The latter portion of the drive way is not paved.

From the driveway there is a stone path to the front door and also to a small covered porch on the side of the house that provides an entrance into the kitchen.

The front door is natural wood- colored and is topped with a transom. The door opens into a small vesti bule providing access to two rooms. On the right is the for mal living room, which has the first of the house’s three fireplaces. Only two of them are in working order. The one in this living room is used as the flue for the house’s heat ing system exhaust. The living room also has built-in book shelves.

A cavernous fireplace is in the formal dining room, or great room, a long room that measures 33 feet bt 9 feet 9 inches. This was probably the house’s original fireplace, which means this room, or a portion of it, was probably the original kitchen. The fireplace has cooking ovens. This room also features exposed beams and a long window area with a wood window seat.

A red vintage salt box, top, makes a pretty picture. The house, which sits on an acre on Daniels Farm Road in Trumbull, was built around 1740. The dining room, right, features exposed beams and a large fireplace. The house has three fireplaces, one of which is in the sitting room above.

The barn, used as a garage, can accommodate two cars.

Also on this first floor is a room that could serve as anoth er bedroom if necessary. This is the room that is to the left of the front entrance. It has a working fireplace and just outside this room is a full bath. Just off the great room, and one step down, is a breakfast room with two built in china hutches, a picture window, and a door to a covered porch.

Throughout most of the house there are original barn style doors with wrought-iron hardware and wide-planked wood floors. The floors in the great room are chestnut, which was very typical of the Colonial era, and this is the only room in the house that has pegged wood floors, rather than nails.

The kitchen is in a portion of the house that was added af ter the Civil War. It has an oak floor, two stainless sinks with antiqued nickel decorative fau cet, a wide-planked pine ceil ing, a brick backsplash, built-in hutch with glass doors and wine rack, and wallpaper. From the kitchen there is access to the basement and to a large walk in pantry/ laundry room with a vinyl floor, electric washer and dryer hook up, utility sink, dec orative door and shelving.

There is a narrow staircase to the second floor. This stairwell and the second floor landing have plaster walls and ceiling. All the floors on this level are also hardwood, but of random-width planks from wide to standard.

On the second floor there are three bedrooms, one that can be accessed only by walk ing through one of the other two bedrooms. There is also a huge full bathroom with a Japa nese soaking tub, a bidet, a large marble walk-in shower and a vaulted ceiling. At the far end of the bath there is a large walk-in closet that doubles as a dressing room.

The first bedroom at the top of the stairs has wood on the lower half of the walls topped with chair railing, exposed beams and two closets. A sec ond bedroom has fabric remi niscent of an earlier time period decorating one of its four walls.

The third bedroom has wall-to wall carpeting over hardwood, a vaulted ceiling, built-in shelves, a built-in drop desk, and several closets and cubbies. This room also provides access to the walk up attic.

For more information, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call Dianne Camella of RE/ MAX Right Choice at 203-268-1118, ext. 362, or 203-257-2555 or e- mail her at disold@aol.com.

By Meg Barone
CORRESPONDENT

The name of the road — Hulls Highway — is deceiving enough, but then so is the house at 940 Hulls Highway in the Southport section of Fairfield.

Both can fool you in the best possible way. Despite its name, Hulls Highway is a quiet, rural road that meanders passed a mélange of stately homes and properties with horses; and despite its appearance, the colonial saltbox house looks like it was built in the 18th century.

At first glance, the house appears authentic, but the custom-built reproduction saltbox was actually built in 1979 with yesterday’s details and today’s amenities. It is accurate in many of its architectural details, yet it is not museum-like. The current owners are history buffs and wanted to have the feel of living in that time period, but with the built-in comfort of the modern era. They used J. Frederick Kelly’s book “Early Connecticut Architecture” as their construction bible to create their masterpiece.

The 3,634 square-foot house was meticulously designed as a quintessential 1750 classic New England saltbox and painstakingly appointed with chestnut beams, wide planked walnut floors on the first floor, pediment, colonial wall paneling, period-looking light fixtures including brass sconces, and hand-wrought vintage hardware on exterior doors. To lend a real air of authenticity, the owners had light switches in some rooms installed in closets to hide them, since there was no electricity in the 1700s.

The colors that the owners incorporated into the décor are close to the colors that would actually have been used in colonial times. The house sits well back from the road, and the front of the nearly two-acre property along the road is lined with a fieldstone wall, which was so typical of colonial Connecticut farm land. There is a long pebble driveway that passes the open meadow of the front yard and stands of trees eventually leading to the house and the three-car attached garage, both of which are natural-colored wood clapboard with an antique blue-green trim. The two side-by-side front doors have numerous raised panels and are beautifully framed in decorative millwork.

The doors open into a small foyer with a double-door closet. To the left is the formal living room or parlor and to the right is the formal dining room. The parlor has one fully paneled wall, which houses the red brick fireplace. The rest of the walls have the paneling on the lower quarter. The homeowners said they interviewed seven masons before finding one who could build the fireplace authentically. The interior bricks are new and the outer portion comprises reclaimed bricks to provide that antique appearance. The dining room has a fieldstone fireplace, exposed beams, paneling on the lower walls, and two built-in corner cupboards.

A door separates the dining room from the family room, or keeping room, which opens into the small but well-laid-out gourmet kitchen. In fact, one of the current owners is a professional chef and culinary instructor. And if that’s not enough to convince someone of its function and efficiency, how about this? Shortly after this house construction was completed, the kitchen garnered national attention.

It was featured on the front cover of a special edition of Family Circle magazine in 1981. The keeping room is really almost like three rooms in one. It runs the length of the house from side to side and includes a sitting area, a main area with a fieldstone fireplace and hearth just outside the dining room, and a den or library section with lots of built-in bookshelves. This latter section can also be accessed through the living room. The lintel over the fireplace is a reclaimed beam found on Jennings Beach. A large barn-like door from the keeping room to a spacious barn room has 15 panes — three rows of five — of bull’s-eye glass. This room has a brick floor in a modified herringbone pattern, hand-hewn chestnut beams, a skylight, antique wet bar, rough sawn pine wood paneled walls and two bay window seating areas overlooking the stunning backyard, which is more like a small-scale botanical garden.

There are two French doors from the porch to a slate patio and into the yard. At the opposite end of the porch there is also a pass-through window into the kitchen. The kitchen has a red brick floor, also in a modified herringbone pattern, a vaulted ceiling, skylight, and a backsplash of ceramic tile with some hand-painted floral tiles. The counters are topped with butcher’s block wood. There is a deep and long stainless sink and the appliances are hidden for the most part behind cupboards that resemble those of the colonial period. Appliances include a Viking six-burner range top, two Jenn-Air wall-mounted ovens, and a Sub-Zero refrigerator.

Back in the keeping room, at the library end of it, there is an L-shaped hallway with doors to the slate patio.

This area provides access to the basement, garage and a powder room with plaster walls. These plaster walls have sheetrock underneath and are meant to continue the vintage feel.

The plaster walls continue up the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs and to the left is a laundry room with under-eaves storage and access to an unfinished room over the garage, which looks out over the slate patio, rose garden and the panoramic view of the large yard with its mix of formal gardens, meadow and landscaping that includes clipped boxwood hedges, quince trees and other plantings. There is also a pergola with benches and a wood-shingled roof. This room, once finished, would make an ideal guest room or art studio.

There are three bedrooms on the second floor, including the master bedroom suite, and another two bedrooms on the third floor with a sitting area between them. The bedroom windows all have interior shutters — not plantation shutters, but full-length, attractive solid wood shutters. Above each window is decorative millwork. Each bedroom has a California closet, and pine wood floors that were installed in 2001.

For more information, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call Melanie Smith of Prudential at 203-319-3403 or 203-521-2126.

By Meg Barone

CORRESPONDENT

Striking vermillion sunrises and sunsets over Long Island Sound await the next owner of the antique Geor gian colonial house at 80 Park Boule vard that was originally named Lord ship Manor. The house was built in 1912 as the summer residence of A.W.

Burritt, who had a lumber yard in Stratford.

The original knocker bearing his name and the date the house was built is still affixed to the front door. The house enjoys a 180-degree unobstruct ed view of the Sound and is only steps from the private Russian Beach, to which the homeowners have rights.

The property closest to the water is across the street from the house and is not owned by the homeowner. It is owned by the Lordship Improvement Association, which holds it in trust for the residents of Lordship only.

The view alone is worth the price, but then there is the attractive 3,350 square-foot house and the property to go along with it. The house was built on a corner lot, which at one-eighth of an acre is double the size of most parcels.

It gives the house a generous side yard for gardening, child’s play, pic nics and other activities. During World War II that yard served as a Victory Garden. The yard contains a child-size dollhouse that dates back to the 1930s.

The front of the house faces Park Boulevard and the driveway is on Margherita Lawn, a charming street with a wide, park-like divider. The circular, paved driveway leads to the backyard patio, large trellis, a stately sycamore tree and the detached deep garage which can actually fit six cars.

The garage, at one time, had running water and still includes the plumbing for the interior sink and commode and the exterior shower it once had.

There is also electricity and gas hook-up out there, a workbench and loft storage. The double sliding doors resemble barn doors. Bricks from the original Stratford Town Hall, which was razed to make way for the con struction of I-95, were used for the backyard patio and the walkway on the Margherita Lawn side of the house.

The house can accommodate a large family.

It has six bedrooms on the second floor and there are three more finished rooms on the third floor, which was originally a walk-up attic. They lend themselves to limitless possibilities.

For instance, renovation could com bine some of the rooms to create a large master bedroom suite. It has a wide white clapboard exterior with black shutters, which serves as a backdrop for hundreds of daffodils in the spring. There is also an enormous holly tree in the front yard.

The footprint of the original large wrap-around porch now serves as a terraced lawn with a red brick retain ing wall.

At one end is a period-looking light post, and at the other is a farm bell — not a ship’s bell as many people as sume — that was used decades ago to call kids home for dinner. The front door is flanked by sidelights and an arched window above, all of which have decorative leaded glass. It opens into the large foyer, which was the dining room in the house’s original configuration. The size of the house was increased by one-third in a 1937 1940 renovation, which added the current dining room, porch and mas ter bedroom.

The foyer has a ceiling with four exposed beams painted white, crown molding and chair railing, but not at chair level. Rather, it sits about three quar ters up on the walls.

There is also a hardwood floor, as there is in all rooms throughout the house, although some rooms have wall-to-wall carpeting over it. To the left is the formal living room or parlor and to the right is the grand formal dining room, which could accommo date a large gathering on holidays.

There are two entrances into the kitchen from the foyer: one is a pass-through that also serves as a pantry area, the other pass-through also provides access to the second floor and requires two steps up and two down into the kitchen.

The parlor has the same exposed beam ceiling of the foyer, crown molding, a fireplace with a marble surround, and access to a small back hallway where there is a half bath and a door to the Mar gherita Lawn side of the house. From the dining room there is a door into the eat-in or breakfast room portion of the long kitchen.

Along the east side of the house is a large cov ered porch that can be accessed from French doors in the dining room and from the eat-in area of the kitchen. The dining room has two built-in corner cabinets with glass front doors.

The kitchen has crown molding with scalloped wood edges below it, off-white wood cabinets, linoleum flooring, a counter with a butcher’s block top, stainless sink and a laundry area with a GE washer and dryer. Kitchen appliances include a Hotpoint dishwasher, Frigidaire professional refrigerator and Whirlpool stove. There are two doors to the backyard from the kitchen, one of which goes first into an enclosed back porch.

The second floor has six bedrooms, one of which has a sink in it. Some rooms are painted, others have wallpaper. The shared full bath in the hallway has a mosaic tile floor in various shades of pink,three- by- three-inch pink ceramic tiles on the lower half of the walls and white fixtures.

A second shared full bath has a similar décor but in pink and maroon. The master bedroom overlooks Long Island Sound and has its own full bath.

For more information, or to set up a private appoint ment to see the house, call Maggie Smith of William Raveis Real Estate at 203-339-1277.

By Meg Barone
CORRESPONDENT

Shelton has a rich agricultural history, which continues today with a number of operating farms.

A property in the White Hills section at 136 Maple Ave. is no longer a working farm, but its remnants are still visible today on a 2.04 acre lot, which holds a nine room colonial farmhouse, five barns, two carriage houses and a three-seat outhouse. All are available for purchase.

Built in 1803, the house was later renovated to add the current kitchen and convert the existing kitchen into a full bath, and the house now contains 2,352 square feet of living space.

Although historic records are hard to find, the current owner believes this property was once the site of the Wigwam Brandy and Wine Farm, and said large kegs from that alcohol operation were found in one of the barns decades ago. Rumor has it there was a still across the street during Prohibition, too.

More recent owners kept typical farm animals like cows, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, chickens, turkeys and ducks. The barns may need some work, but they are still usable and could accommodate animals. All of the outbuildings are attractive gray, weathered wood, and some of them have heat and electricity. One barn has three stories, one of which still serves as a large workshop, and it has a large number of electrical outlets. At least one of the barns or carriage houses can be used as a multicar garage.

The largest of the barns has a cupola. Some of the barns housed animals and still have stalls. The house sits on a bit of an incline and looks down onto Maple Avenue.

Just past the house, Maple becomes East Village. A long, paved driveway cuts in front of the house and continues to a large parking area, accessing three of the out buildings.

The exterior of the house is natural cedar clapboard with white trim. There is a wide, long wrap around porch in the front and one side with several white columns.

More often than not the current residents use the rear entrance into the kitchen, since that is closest to the parking.

The formal front entrance is attractive, with a wood door that is original to the home. It has two arched windows, side by side, which are frosted and contain a decorative starlike pattern. An old door bell sits just below the win dows.

Stepping through the door into the foyer seems like taking a step into Shelton’s past. There are hardwood floors throughout the house, many of them original wide planked boards, probably chestnut, considering the time period. There is a wealth of decorative details in the millwork.

The foyer provides access to the formal sitting room, or living room, to the left, the family room or den on the right, and the formal dining room straight ahead.

The front staircase is also in the foyer. A rear staircase is accessed in the kitchen.

From the foyer to the sitting room, there is a wide entrance, which has two pocket doors to separate the room and foyer. Two more pocket doors separate the sitting and dining rooms.

The sitting room has crown molding, chair rail and a decorative fireplace. It was originally func tional, but the chimney has since been bricked shut.

The fireplace has a surround of miniature subway tiles in mottled brown and aqua colors, and a decorative natural wood mantle.

The lower walls are painted off white and the upper walls are covered in an attractive paper befitting the period of the house.

Thanksgivings would be well spent in this house, not just for its agricultural heritage but for its long dining room, which could easily accommodate two long tables and a large number of people.

This room has the same wallpaper of the sitting room on the upper walls, wood paneling on the lower walls with a ledge at chair rail level. There is a built-in hutch, a coat closet, and a cabinet built into an upper wall that it shares with the kitchen.

In fact, years ago this cabinet served as a pass through between the kitchen and dining room, but now it can only be accessed from the dining room side. Also in the dining room is a regular wood paneled door that separates it from the foyer.

The den has a built-in bookshelf and cubbies that go the length of one wall.

The kitchen is large and features lights on a dimmer switch, a linoleum floor, wallpaper on the upper section and wood paneling below, a counter area with Formica counter tops, and natural wood cabinets topped with crown mold ing.

There is more than enough room to include a long dining table. Appliances include a Kitchen Aid refrigerator and dishwasher, Magic Chef microwave and Maytag range. Off the kitchen is a full bath with a long granite-topped vanity with two sinks, a linoleum floor made to resemble wood, a shower stall with two sliding glass doors, cabinets, and beige ceramic tiles on the lower two-thirds of the wall. There is also a laundry room.

Upstairs, there is a long landing from which there is access to three of the four bedrooms, an office and a full bath. The far bedroom is accessed through the office or from the rear stairs, as is the walk-up attic.

In the master bedroom there is a very long walk-in closet that goes the length of one wall, with shelves at both ends and another long shelf above the clothing rack.

The floors are wide planked hardwood. A couple of these second-floor rooms, including the master bedroom, have tulip wood floors. Some of the doorways leading into bedrooms from the landing are angled, or appear crooked from the outside, but from inside the bedroom they are straight.

And it’s not a matter of the wood settling in such a way after so many years. The doorways were deliberately made so. Apparently, in that time period, it was done to confound evil spirits and keep them from the rooms.

The full bath’s linoleum floor resembles white tile. There is a combination tub and shower, and the lower walls have 4-by-4-inch blue ceramic tile. The rest is wall paper.

Most unfinished basements are not worth mentioning, but this full basement is because it has an old section that has a wide barnlike door with original hardware and exposed beams in the ceiling from local trees. It also has two 275 gallon oil tanks. Outside, there is wide open lawn, some of which is bordered by a white picket fence in the front of the property, and some of which is enclosed by historic stone walls.

For more information, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call Ellen Zern of Pepe Real Estate at 203-929 6775 or 203-209-5069.

By Meg Barone

CORRESPONDENT

While neighbors are yearning for warm weather to open their own backyard pools or fleeing the state for warmer climes during the winter months, the owners of the spacious ranch at 256 Dayton Road in Trumbull are happily donning swimsuits to lounge pool-side and swim laps. And the nearly maintenance free, indoor, in-ground, heated Wagner pool is only the first of several unusual and interest ing features of this house, which has a contem porary flair.

Just off the living room is a solarium, which is ideal for plant-lovers.

The master bedroom suite contains a sauna that includes a tanning bed, rain shower and stereo system. The kitchen has a large walk-in pantry. And there are two garages and drive ways. The house has 3,559 square feet of living space and its open floor plan makes it an attractive entertainment place.

The original house was considerably smaller, but a renovation project about 30 years ago added on several rooms, including the master bedroom, indoor pool or giant sun room, the two-car garage and the bedroom above it.

The house sits on a parcel of just over one acre and includes open lawn as well as land scaped areas with stately oaks, Japanese maples, dogwoods and other plantings. The first paved driveway leads to a two-car at tached, under-house garage, and has a slate path to the front entrance, passing by flower beds lined in Belgian block, an open lawn and a mix of shrubs and trees. The second drive way is on the opposite side of the property and leads to a one-car, attached, under-house garage.

The exterior of the house, which was built in 1954, is cedar installed vertically and diago nally. The front door is wood with recessed panels and a decorative oval of clear beveled and leaded glass. This opens into a small area, which has brown ceramic tile and a large picture window on the left looking into the solarium, and three wooden stairs to the living room.

There is an oak floor in the living room, chair rail, pic ture- frame paneling, crown molding, and a gas fireplace surrounded by unpolished marble, a wood mantle with dentil molding and a slightly raised hearth topped in slate.

Two French doors open to the solarium, which requires several steps down. It has a gravel floor, shelving for plants, four large picture windows and four skylights on its slanted roof.

From the living room there is a hallway that leads to the dining room and kitchen, as well as to a first-floor bed room, full bath, two-car garage and stairs to the bedroom above it. This area of the house, except for the kitchen, has hardwood flooring.

The dining room has chair rail, crown molding and one enormous picture window, about eight-feet long by five feet tall, overlooking the spacious, enclosed sunroom that includes the pool. There is another large picture window, not quite the same dimensions, in the kitchen that also looks into the pool room. In the kitchen, there is a good-size eat-in section, linoleum flooring that resem bles off-white ceramic tiles, honey-colored oak cabinets with vertical planks of wood, an off-white ceramic tile backsplash, large skylight and a Formica-topped counter that separates the preparation area from the eat-in section.

There are three stainless sinks, including a vegetable sink, and the appliances include a Kenmore side-by side refrigerator and freezer, compactor and garbage disposal, Whirlpool range and GE dishwasher. On the opposite end of the kitchen is a butler’s pantry with numer ous cabinets, a counter area, and the same brown tile floor of the front entrance way.

This pantry provides access to the master bedroom, a sepa rate entrance to the master bath and also to the sun room, which houses the indoor pool, a laundry room with a sink, pool changing room and pool utility room. There is a second entrance into this sun room from the eat-in kitchen, where there is a sliding door and atrium “window” and then stairs to the pool.

The master bedroom is quite large and has a vaulted ceiling, and the exposed brick of the living room fireplace.

One wall contains an excep tionally long closet, which has four sets of double doors to access various portions of it.

At the top of the vaulted ceiling there are three hori zontal windows. This room also features two sets of two crank-out windows, bringing lots of natural light into the room. The sauna is on the interior wall, which it shares with the master bath. There is a large closet in the bath that can access the back of the sauna in case it needed work.

In front of the sauna there is a break in the bedroom’s wall to- wall carpeting, where there is instead an area of stone-like tile.

Beige porcelain tiles arranged in a pattern deco rate the floor in the master bath. Similarly colored tiles serve as the backsplash in the combo jetted tub and shower with sliding glass doors. One wall of the tub/shower has glass cubes.

The sun room has Spanish cedar wood planks on the walls, four skylights and six sets of double atrium sliding doors providing access to the wood deck, quarried stone deck, fenced-in backyard, which includes a large en closed area for pets, a stone retaining wall and stone steps to an upper level.

Next to the pool is a relaxing stone waterfall.

There is an area for a pool side entertainment system, which would allow for televi sion viewing from in the pool.

Those concerned about a chlorine smell permeating the house need not worry because there is virtually no chlorine smell in the pool room itself.

The only maintenance it requires is checking the chlorinator once a month.

The pool is on a timer to self clean and it is heated with gas. It also has a humidity control system. As an added bonus, the fact that the pool is inside means there are no leaves to remove.

The room above the two car garage is currently used as an office, but could be a third bedroom, if necessary. It has a separate heating and air conditioning unit from the rest of the house, lots of windows and a vaulted ceiling.

On the basement level, there is a large, carpeted family room that has a gas fireplace with a large red brick surround and a slate hearth, and a good-size bar with a sink. The upper walls are wood paneling and the lower walls are red brick with a ledge and numerous electri cal outlets just above the ledge throughout the room. On this level there is also a lot of storage and utility space, and access to the second garage.

For more information, or to set up a private appointment to see the house, call Darcy Hall of William Pitt Sotheby’s Inter national Realty at 203-261-7488, ext. 329.