Character and comfort
The homeowner-seller of this antique home and cottage recounts improvements and a decade of memories made
Built in 1865, the four-bedroom antique colonial at 361 N. Maple Avenue, Greenwich, is listed for $2.925 million. Houlihan Lawrence Realtor Maria Crowley is the listing agent. The current owner bought the property about 10 years ago. She spoke with Greenwich Time about her time living and raising two children here over the course of a decade. Though in good condition when she acquired it, she recounted how she made a number of improvements to the property. For example, she added central air conditioning and moved a former powder room from the kitchen to just off the formal living room, reclaiming the space for the pantry and making the kitchen more functional, she explained. More recently she added a new Bosch dishwasher. “It’s an eat-in kitchen, as you can see from the banquette table. It has a really nice flow, and with all the windows, it’s a really bright, cheery room,” she described the space.
“It’s a happy house, and it’s a happy kitchen,” she added. “I raised my two children here. They’re now in college, and I miss them, but we had every meal, every breakfast, every dinner in this kitchen.”
The owner noted the kitchen’s proximity to a covered porch and yard, recalling how easy it was to transport tableware and food between the two for numerous outdoor barbecues and brunches.
For dinner parties and luncheons, she’d rely on the formal dining room. “The scale of the house is nice, in my opinion. With modern houses that are larger, you can never make them feel intimate,” she said.
The owner also noted that she appreciated the character of the house, including some of the original hardwood floors that remained; however, she wanted to give them an extended life and a more contemporary color, so she had them refinished in the color of rich espresso.
She also added some pop of color and texture with soft paint colors and wallcoverings on accent walls in both the formal dining room and to the living room, where there’s a fireplace and space for the family’s grand piano.
“In the piano room, there’s fun Gucci wallpaper that I found. I like to add little touches that aren’t necessarily glaring in your face. That’s a super-cozy room. You feel like you’re in a little treehouse. We’d have people come over and play the people. On the other side is the wood-burning fireplace, so we’d have people over for a fire and someone would play the piano. It was nice being in there together,” she said. In addition to the living
room, dining room and eat-in kitchen, the first floor also has a sunroom, a family room and a powder room. On the second level, there are four bedrooms, including the primary suite, with an ensuite bath and a huge walk-in closet.
The main house is complemented by a charming, separate outbuilding, which has served a number of purposes for the owner’s family. Initially, they used it as a rec room for the kids, so they could be out there with friends playing pingpong. At a later point, she added a loft to the second level, so they could host sleepovers with friends. When they further grew and went off to college, she reclaimed the space for her home office. “There’s good storage out there, and I’ve found that there’s so many things you can do with it,” the seller said. It currently does not have a bathroom, so it technically can’t be considered a guest/in-law suite, but a buyer could certainly add one, she suggested.
The house and cottage are situated on a 0.60-acre lot. “There’s a little stream that runs along the back of the yard, and the seating areas outside are amazing, especially when everything turns green,” the seller said. The way the house is set back a little from the road makes the setting feel
private, and yet it’s a convenient property for accessing local schools, including Brunswick School, Greenwich Academy and North Street School.
“It’s a very good place to raise a family,” she concluded.
Listing agent: