The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
From 19th-century carriage house to historical home
RIDGEFIELD — Even before you reach the 19thcentury carriage house on Stonecrest Road, it isn’t hard to tell it was once one of a dozen buildings on a 203-acre farm.
The house, now a fourbedroom home, is the only major building remaining from the estate since the main house, a 28-room mansion, burned down around 1945.
But a few of the original 150 trees still line Stonecrest Road, which was once a 3/4-mile driveway to the expansive property known as Stonecrest Manor.
“It was perfectly lined with (maples) — a canopy that went up the road, until some started dying,” said Lisa K. Manganiello, who owns the carriage house. “But you still get a little feel about what it was like.”
The mansion had been built in the late 1800s by Allen Stoddard Apgar, a banker who was friends with then-Gov. Phineas Lounsbury, according to records from the Ridgefield Historical Society.
The property was later sold to another family and then to developers who decided to tear it down. But as they prepared to do so, the mansion caught fire when one of the fireplace flues malfunctioned.
But the history of Stonecrest Manor can still be found at the carriage house, which sits on top of a 100-foot ridge that can be seen from the backyard.
Manganiello said it was these views that originally attracted her to the 2.49acre parcel in 2008.
“The first time I pulled up, it looked like the ocean was in front of me, because the sky was so blue,” Manganiello said. “The minute I drove up in the driveway I put an offer in.”
As she started to renovate the home, Manganiello said, the remaining pieces of its history became more clear.
She found hundreds of horseshoes while digging to redo the narrow staircase, and when taking down wallboard in three of the upstairs bedrooms, she uncovered the original walls and doors.
“The three bedrooms were attached by doors, which meant the workers that lived there and could go into each other’s rooms,” Manganiello said. “None of that was known until I bought the house ... which was really exciting.”
Before it was turned into a home, the second floor of the structure housed the workers. It was also used to store hay and corn in a silo that emptied at the back of the bottom floor, where the horses stayed in stalls.
The carriages were stored in a room near the stone entrance. Today that room serves as the living and dining room, the horse stalls serve as the kitchen and the upstairs storage area as a master bedroom, with a skylight where the silo once was.
Dee Braaten, the listing agent for the property, said the original barn windows and covered beams can still be seen on the first floor. It’s this history, combined with the backyard’s expansive views, that make the property special, she added.
“You pull in and you take a breath, and it’s a place that words can’t really describe,” she said. “Some of is is the vista, some of it is the history, and some of it could be the horses that lived there. If you have any kind of love for history and nature, it comes together in such a wonderful way.”
Manganiello said she takes a picture as the sun rises over the ridge each morning, and always enjoys the sunset streaming in from the front of the house. She has also added 100 trees around the property since moving in.
It’s rumored, Manganiello added, that troops hid in caves underneath the ridge during the 1777 Battle of Ridgefield.
She said it has been an honor to live in the home, which is on the market for $995,000, for the past decade.
“Now it’s someone else’s turn to love and enjoy it,” she said. “That makes me smile.”