Round Hill Road estate
Pastoral acres, orchards, gardens, a pool, pond and evergreen forest await
The compound at 530 Round Hill Road, Greenwich, was listed for sale this month. Realtor Martha Jeffrey of Sotheby’s International Realty represents the seller, who is asking $7.495 million for the backcountry property.Victoria von Gontard Skouras’ parents — Adalbert von Gontard Jr. “Adie” and his bride Marie, affectionately known as “Mamie,” moved their family from St. Louis to Greenwich in 1951. For a time, they lived on Greenbriar Lane on two acres. That’s where their daughter first learned to ride horses, igniting a lifelong passion. As an adult, she’d go on to serve many terms as chair of the Greenwich Riding & Trails Association (GRTA), a position her father held in 1989 and 1990.
“In 1966, good friends of my mother’s, the Milbanks, said, ‘You have to look at this house. It’s for sale, and it’s perfect for you.’ They did, and they bought it,” their daughter recalled the move to 530 Round Hill Road — a compound they’d later name, aptly, “Field View Farm.”
“My mother was an interior decorator, and Dad was a businessman and entrepreneur with a passion and love for animals and polo,” Skouras recalled. The property may have fueled both of their passions, for her mother relished in decorating the 6,113-squarefoot main house, a six-bedroom brick-and-clapboard Georgian colonial. And with plenty of pastural land and a four-stall barn, it was well-suited for horses.
Skouras was 12 years old when she moved here, and has fond memories today of riding horses down to the Round Hill Store for milk, eggs and maple candy.
An introduction to this country estate begins at the gated drive, which winds past a guesthouse — or gatehouse, as it was otherwise known — an allée of trees and fenced pastures before arriving at the main house.
The entry foyer has a front-to-back perspective; an expansive living room and sunroom sit to the left in the floor plan; a library — with a “secret bar — the formal dining room and eat-in kitchen are to the right. The main level also has a powder room, a butler’s pantry, laundry and access to the attached three-car garage.
There are multiple openings among the interiors that lead out to terraces, gardens and pool.
Skouras was married here. The steps in the garden were designed to provide a pathway to the outdoor altar where the couple shared their vows.
Her parents held countless special occasions here — dinner parties and outdoor affairs. The formal dining room is spacious enough to accommodate a main table for 12 and a “children’s table” in the bay window nook.
The second-level floor plan affords some flexibility, Skouras suggested, but as it is currently configured,
there’s a primary suite and five additional large bedrooms. The third level affords storage space, including two cedar closets.
Downstairs, in the lower level, there’s a large bonus room where the family ping-pong table hosted hotly contested matches, plus a wine cellar.
The four-stall barn is heated and appended with an office, a gym, hayloft, grain chute, dovecote and chicken coop. It also has garaging for two cars. A previous owner was an avid gardener, who added heat to the barn in order to winter-over her plants in the stalls.
When Skouras’ father died last year at 96 years old, his obituary described him as a “banker, publisher, philanthropist, pilot and nationally ranked polo player.” He was a descendent of Adolphus Busch, who was his great-grandfather. At the tender age of 17, he’d enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during WWII as a German interpreter. Later in life, at Field View Farm, he enjoyed spending time out in the barn’s office, which he added when he formally retired. People would come to visit him there and chat about any given topic, his daughter recalled.
“He had a wonderful philosophy about life,” she said.
Skouras estimated that the three-bedroom guesthouse was added to the property about 20 years ago. It might be leveraged for short- or long-term guests, multigenerational living, accommodations for live-in staff, or even as a separate office space.
The property spans 13.93 acres, complete with a private pond, meadows and a grove of evergreen trees. Abutting the back of the property is an additional 8.5 acres of conservation land. It affords convenient access to the GRTA’s trail system. One of the pastures behind the “gatehouse” earned the nickname “Field of Dreams.” A trail runs through the property that was long ago carved by fox hunting parties, and there’s a pond on site, too. Skouras’ daughter fondly remembers family strolls through the apple orchard at her grandparent’s home.
This is a setting where it’s easy to find peace and quiet. Tranquility greets you as you pass through the striking front gates. Though the family is now ready to pass the property along to a new family, their memories and legacy here will endure.