The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Home in parklike setting
Hamden property on 3.2 acres includes an arboretum
This stately Dutch colonial is located in a park like setting with an arboretum and a continuous bloom of flowers throughout the growing season.
“Once you meander down this private road you kind of enter a private world,” John Campbell, listing agent for Page Taft Christies, said. “It’s just a grand property; it’s majestic. You pull in there and it’s just a different world.”
Built in 1913, the home has been in the same family for three generations.
Peter Wilson’s parents purchased the home in 1956, said his wife Peggy Linsey. Outdoor enthusiasts, they took their love of nature to the property.
An arborist, Wilson’s father planted specimen trees, including magnolia, cherry, dogwood, crab apple, quince, paulownia, sugar maple and mulberry, Linsey said.
Also known as a princess tree, the paulownia was traditionally planted upon the birth of a girl to be cut down and made into a dresser for her wedding, Campbell said.
Meanwhile, Wilson’s mother, who was president of the Garden Club of America, planted flowers that bloom all year.
“It’s very fascinating to watch this process of blooms,” Linsey said. “It starts with little tiny purple crocuses. There are snow drops, daffodils, narcissus, several varieties of irises bloom successively … peonies.”
The list also includes day lilies, daisies, hibiscus, mums, roses, hydrangeas and more.
“It really is just one thing after another and it’s very enchanting,” Linsey said.
Architecturally built with no expense sparred, the home has graciously sized rooms with windows and doors placed in precise locations for cool breezes in summer and passive solar heat in winter.
The flow of the house – with each room opening to the next and the living room opening to the sunporch, which in turn opens to the patio and English garden – is great for entertaining, Linsey said. When she held a brunch after her son’s wedding, she placed refreshments in each room for the 60 guests.
“People can really go all over, from the kitchen to the dining room to the front hall, to the kitchen to the sunporch and there are no real obstacles,” she said. “It flows really nicely.”
The house features beautiful hardwood floors, high ceilings and three fireplaces, Campbell said. The glass enclosed threeseason sunporch is lined by boxwood trees.
The generously sized kitchen, with a breakfast nook, has been updated with new ceiling lights, counters, floors, a backsplash and appliances.
With plenty of counter space and great flow between the refrigerator, sink and stove, it’s a great setting for cooking.
“It makes having a dinner party easy,” Linsey said.
The master bedroom has a triple bay window overlooking the English garden, a sleeping porch with jalousie windows and windows on a third wall.
“I love the little sleeping porch with the jalousie [windows] with the breeze coming through,” Linsey said. “It just has a very pleasant vintage feel.”
The room also has his and her closets and a bathroom with a bathtub and shower.
The excluded 3.2acre lot is on a quiet private road and has minimal views of neighboring homes.
“You see the trees and the yard and the English garden and it’s very relaxing,” Linsey said. “You feel like you’re in Vermont.”
With Yale only 2.5 miles away, the neighborhood tends to attract an educated outgoing crowd Linsey said. The house has been home to Ashbel Green Gulliver, who was dean of Yale Law School from 1941 to 1946, and at one time, former Connecticut governor Wilbur Cross sr., lived next door.
“You can walk to East Rock Park, Hamden Hall School, the New Haven Country Club and to the bus line,” she said.