As with life, real estate in Greenwich moves in cycles. The classic Victorian at 505 East Putnam was an early step-out from downtown living. When much of Greenwich was farmland, the successful businessman in the late 19th Century wanted to be able to walk to Greenwich Avenue, hence an abundance of large Victorians were built along Mason Street and Milbank Avenue. With the arrival of cars in Greenwich in the early 20th Century the landed gentry looked a few blocks further away. Many of these great houses have been torn down or converted to condos, but three large Victorians remain on the Boston Post Road across from the entrance to the Millbrook Association and around the corner from Greenwich High.
The middle house, 505 East Putnam Avenue is on the market $2,249,000 and priced to sell before winter. The successful families of the period had several servants and this house has a front stairs for the owner with custom mill-work banisters leading up to three large bedrooms and a sitting room. Ironically, the servants in the three bedrooms on third floor had a better view of the 1.7 acre property than the owners on the second floor. To get to their rooms the staff ascended the backstairs from the kitchen to their own bedrooms, which could be hotter in the summer before the advent of air conditioning.
The house illustrates how elegant, well-built homes of the period can be renovated for today’s style of living while preserving their original beauty and quality.
The kitchen, the epicenter of domestic technology has gone through the most changes since the house was originally built in 1913. What had been a large open space with a large hulking stove became divided by a breakfast bar into an informal/family dining area and a modern kitchen with a center island, convection oven and more.
The other major areas of change are the bathrooms with glass front doors for the showers and modern tiles and fixtures. Surprisingly, given it is only three blocks from downtown, this area of the Post Road and most of the houses on adjacent Hillside Road and Brookridge Drive are on septic and many in the area like it that way: no sewer surcharge.
The living areas, however, are much as they were originally. People still congregate around the fireplace in the den on winter nights. The piano still occupies the living room waiting for sing-alongs or children’s piano lessons and the bedrooms would be familiar to the original owner.
Keeping the best of the past and adding the best of today is what this house is all about.
The house is listed with Douglas Elliman and is available for showing by appointment.
