Castle in Connecticut

I was strolling through some real estate website and stumbled across a gorgeous castle in Connecticut. I have to say one thing right up front – regardless of how much money you have and how much you throw at a new house, you can’t buy patina and natural weathering. You can try and fake it, but it will never look like what’s accumulated with the passing of the seasons and the years. {end rant}

The house, which the original owners referred to as a chateau, was built in the 1920’s by a crew of 100+ Italian stonemasons, for a New York surgeon and his socialite wife. It was designed by the architect Edward C. Dean in the Storybook style.

The estate is at the end of a mile-and-a-half long drive and sits on more than 250 acres, with more land available. The property has ponds, waterfalls, old growth woods, meadows and streams.

The main house has seven bedrooms and seven full baths, and three partial baths. But there is also a stone gatehouse with two 2-bedroom apartments, a 1-bedroom guest house adjacent to the pool and spa, a potting shed, a 3-stall horse barn with tack room, a chauffeurs garage with an apartment above, and another garage, which together provide garaging for 18 cars.

The original owners travelled extensively and brought back souvenirs of their travels to both build and fill the house.

After almost 100 years, the house has settled into its site and the trees and bushes have grown up around it, giving it that look that’s attempted frequently, but achieved rarely.