Historic Mark Twain property in Redding sells for $2.2M
After multiple years on the market, the historic Mark Twain property in Redding where the author and humorist lived in a Tuscan-style villa that he called “the most out of the world and peaceful and tranquil and in every way satisfactory home I have had experience of in my life,” sold last month for just over $2.2 million.
According to Redding town records, prior owners Jason and Erika DeSantis sold the replica of Twain’s “Stormfield” home on Mark Twain Lane to a New York City resident, with the transaction recorded in mid-December. The final purchase price was roughly in line with the most recent appraised property value by the town.
Listing agent Laura Ancona of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty told CT Insider the buyer did not wish their identity to be known.
“The buyers feel deeply connected to the history of the house and to Mark Twain’s contribution to both the town of Redding and to American literature,” Ancona stated in an email. “That was definitely a big draw, as well as the vast property surrounded by additional hundreds of acres of town preserve.”
In Redding, the DeSantis’ bought the nearly 30acre property and its 6,100-square-foot house in 2003 for $3.45 million, including a stand-alone garage with an upper-level apartment constructed in 1980. They listed it publicly for sale in the summer of 2021 for $4.2 million, chipping away at the price over the months to follow.
The existing house replaced the original Tuscan-style villa that Twain had commissioned, but was destroyed in a July 1923 fire more than 13 years after Twain’s death.
Raising his family in the Farmington Avenue house in Hartford that is preserved today as the Mark Twain House & Museum, Twain relocated to Europe in 1891 after a series of sour business investments, in an effort to pare expenses. After the 1896 death of his daughter Susy Clemens, Twain and his wife Olivia chose not to return to the family home in Hartford, given the painful memories, historians say.
At that point, Twain had already begun rebuilding his finances with a global speaking tour that galvanized him anew as big audiences turned out to hear him, but with an itinerary that included arduous travel. Twain did not settle in Connecticut again until the Redding move, according to Mallory Howard, assistant curator for the Mark Twain House & Museum.
“He led a nomadic lifestyle with his family between 1891 when they leave the Hartford house and 1904 when he settles in New York City on Fifth Ave.,” Howard told CT Insider. “The Clemens family spent their time living out of rented houses and hotels while traveling throughout Europe and the United States.”
Twain chose Redding as a summer getaway at the urging of biographer Alfred Bigelow Paine who had a home there, as did Dan Beard whose iconic illustrations appeared in some of Twain’s novels. Twain nearly ended the plan as construction costs swelled, but took a train to Redding for the first time on June 18, 1908 and, as chronicled at HistoryofRedding.net, made a swift decision to make Stormfield his permanent home.
The only known film of Twain captures him walking the grounds of Stormfield and sitting with daughters Clara and Jean, as filmed by Thomas Edison during a 1909 visit. Jean was discovered dead on Christmas Eve that year, an epileptic seizure thought to have been the cause.
Twain died at Stormfield on April 21, 1910, a week after returning there from Bermuda where he had been convalescing from an ailment.
Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch sold the original house in 1923, but a fire broke out during renovations that year destroying the original structure. A new owner purchased the property in 1924 and had a smaller replica of the Twain house built, which was completed the following year.
While Twain’s sojourn in Redding was relatively brief, he left a lasting legacy in contributing land, funding and books to endow what would become the Mark Twain Library. The library has a number of artifacts from his years in Redding in its collections, including about 200 books from the original library, a laptop writing desk made from a cigar box, and a billiards ball.
“I feel like that property attracts a special kind of person — we often joke that there’s something in the water around here, because people love Mark Twain so much and are entrenched in his legacy,” said Erin Dummeyer, director of the Mark Twain Library.
Dummeyer said the Mark Twain Library averages at least a few visitors weekly by “Twainiac” enthusiasts of his writings and life.
“I’ve worked in public libraries a long time, but I’ve never worked in a library that gets tourists,” Dummeyer said. “All the staff here can give a nickel-and-dime tour at the drop of a hat, which is pretty cool.”
Howard estimated that the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford gets between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors annually. Redding artifacts in its collection include a fireplace mantel that survived the 1923 fire, a megaphone, a sleigh, dishes, and the patio table and chairs from the Edison film, among other items.