Elliman Magazine Cover Story: Grand Style

A lovingly restored Federal-style beauty is an icon in Greenwich: —by Andrea Bennett The address of a prominent historic home in Greenwich, Connecticut, is perhaps less well known than one of its recognizable features. “People call it ‘the house with the red door’ in Greenwich,” says owner Deborah Nielsen, who has lived in the home since 2002. It is a beloved home among locals, many of whom have visited for the many charity fundraisers and social events Nielsen has hosted in her years living here. The sweet moniker belies the size and importance of 205 Round Hill Road , which was built in 1820 by Israel Peck, the great-grandson of one of the 17th-century founders of Greenwich. The original home is a classically proportioned American Federal home, Nielsen explains—a white house with black shutters, a central door, two windows on either side, and five across the top. As the younger Peck’s fortunes grew, he amassed nearly 100 acres, adding on to the original estate. What you T see when you enter the gracious, gated drive and step inside the home are “Neoclassical Federal columns, and indoors, decorative filigree and archways,” according to Nielsen. The historic home now sits on a generously proportioned 5.12 acres. “It’s like living on your own backcountry, secluded estate.” When Nielsen bought the 9,500-sq.-ft. home, she found that its prior owner had made alterations that weren’t in keeping with the original structure. It was important to her to reinstate its Federal-style authenticity. “We did more of a restoration rather than a renovation,” she says. The original floors of the main floor had been removed, so she searched out antique heart pine planks reclaimed from an antique Federal farmhouse in Virginia to put in their place. She installed beams of fresh-cut hand-hewn red oak in the family room, which adjoins the kitchen, to recall the room as it originally was—a farmhouse galley kitchen whose coal-burning stove has been replaced by a cozy stone fireplace. A light-filled, glass-enclosed breakfast room sits in a once-open portico. That lipstick-red front door was her own punchy addition. “It was calling for that red door,” she says. The home’s formal rooms are at once elegant and cozy, perfect both for a family and for entertaining. A former “smoking room” is now a favorite family spot, the gracious formal living and dining rooms host large gatherings, and, like the rest of the home, the serene master bedroom recalls its history in a way that is thoroughly in keeping with a modern lifestyle. But it is perhaps the estate’s grounds that history buffs will love most. A series of destination gardens separate the grounds into different zones. A perennial English garden surrounds the pool; a walled area contains a rose garden. A woodlands garden behind the tennis court is a wonderland for kids, with a natural wood gazebo and treehouses. And a guest cottage as well as a caretaker’s cottage lend the home the feeling of a family compound. Finally, although Nielsen has spent years lovingly restoring the estate, there is one feature that thankfully can never be altered—the view. Around 20 years ago, she explains, the former owner of her home and several neighbors banded together to buy the land across the street and donate it to the Greenwich Land Trust. “We face due west, and you’ll find us on the front wall in the summertime watching the sunset over that open, beautiful field full of horses that no one can ever build on.” Despite the fact that the home is just minutes from Greenwich Avenue and the town’s three private schools, and less than an hour from Manhattan, she says, “It’s like living on your own backcountry, secluded estate.” Contact Jennifer Leahy to learn more.