Rye House (Litchfield, Connecticut) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Rye House
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 Location in Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Location | 122-132 Old Mount Tom Rd., Litchfield, Connecticut |
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| Area | 52 acres (21 ha) |
| Built | 1910 |
| Architect | Eyre, Wilson; et al. |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival, Bungalow/craftsman |
| NRHP reference No. | 00000940 |
| Added to NRHP | August 10, 2000 |
Rye House is a beautiful old country home located at 122-132 Old Mount Tom Road in Litchfield, Connecticut. It was built in 1910 as a summer home for a rich widow from New York City. Rye House is a great example of a building style called Tudor Revival. It also shows how popular it was for wealthy people to build large country estates in this area. Because of its history and special design, Rye House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. This means it's an important place worth protecting.
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What is Rye House Like?
Rye House is found in the Bantam area of Litchfield, right where Old Mount Tom Road meets Old Forge Hollow Road. The property is a large estate with several buildings and beautiful outdoor spaces.
The Main House and Gardens
The main house is very big, with two and a half stories. It is made of stone that has been covered with a special plaster called stucco. You can still see rustic stone blocks at the corners. The house has 18 rooms and covers over 10,000 square feet!
Next to the house, on the west side, there is a carefully designed garden. A large grassy lawn stretches south towards Old Mount Tom Road, surrounded by trees. The estate also has a big swimming pool, like one used in the Olympics, and a tennis court.
The Gardener's Cottage
Near the entrance to the estate, there is a separate building called the gardener's cottage. This cottage is also quite large, with two stories. It is built in a different style called Bungalow/craftsman.
The History of Rye House
Rye House was built on land that used to be a farm. A woman named Isabella Douglass Curtis bought the land. She was the widow of a very wealthy banker from New York City. She named the estate "Rye House" to remember her previous home in Rye, New York.
Who Designed Rye House?
The famous architect Wilson Eyre designed the main house. It was finished in 1910. The gardener's cottage was designed by another team, Wilder and White, and was built the next year. Eyre even showed off Rye House in a magazine called American Architect in 1911. It was a perfect example of his ideas for designing country homes.
Later Owners of Rye House
Isabella Curtis lived at Rye House all year round with her son until the 1930s. She had to sell the property because of money problems. Over the years, other interesting people have owned Rye House. These include actress and model Karen Kopins Shaw, who was once Miss Connecticut in 1977. More recently, the well-known journalist Anderson Cooper and his partner, Benjamin Maisani, were reported to have bought the estate in 2014.
