George Sadowsky
George Sadowsky
The Nathan Lounsbury House
64 Sweet Briar Road
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford was founded by about 20 families who broke with the Wethersfield church and settled here in 1641 on land purchased from the New Haven colony.
Nathan Lounsbury built the original house in 1780. When the land was purchased by him in 1760, it had a mansion house, barn and fruit trees. When it was sold by him in 1789, it had a dwelling house and fruit trees. It is assumed that the mansion house burned down at some point between 1760 and 1789, and was replaced by a simpler dwelling house.
There are two reasons for assuming the date as 1780. Nathan Lounsbury's taxes dropped from 66 pounds, 17 shillings and sixpence in 1777 to 53 pounds 9 shillings in 1779. In 1781, the tax records show that Nathan Lounsbury paid tax on two 5/ smokes, which would surely not constitute a mansion. It also seems reasonable to assume that the mansion burned down during the Revolutionary War, for neither men nor materials were available during that time to reconstruct a mansion, and the Lounsburys would have to content themselves with a smaller dwelling house.
The central chimney addition was built in 1809 according to the date etched in the floorboard of the attic. Warren Scofield would have been the builder of this house. This date and initials (presumably those of the builder) are scratched in a beam in the attic. The house was sold to Benjamin Scofield in March 1788 and stayed more or less in the hands of the Scofield family until 1909. It was then bought then by Mary O'Flyn, believed by many to be the mistress of the last Scofield to hold the property.
The house was moved to its present location from its former location on Newfield Avenue, probably in 1910. A map entitled "Map of Property of Mary L. O'Flyn. Stamford, Conn." and dated July 1909, shows the house facing Newfield Road, on the northwest corner of the property. A later map entitled "Map Showing Property of Eugene A. Sichel, on Newfield Avenue, Stamford, Conn." and dated December 28, 1918, shows the house having been moved approximately 800 feet to the east. After moving the house back from 'Newfield Road, Mary O'Flyn built the large stucco house located at 33 Sweet Briar Road. The Lounsbury house was also covered with stucco to make it compatible with the newly built barn to which it was attached. It is difficult to determine how much of the original frame was destroyed; we estimate that the house was moved almost intact and that 75% of the frame of the 1809 house and 50% of the frame of the 1780 house remain. The ground floor of the 1780 house was replaced, but the almost all of the original flooring of the 1809 house remains. The original paneling, containing the original enclosed stairwell, remains. The 1780 house has one original 12 over 8 window remaining, about one-half of the original windows of the 1809 house remain. The house is attached to a barn which was apparently built between 1909 and 1918. It replaces the barn shown on the 1909 nap. The barn is three stories, with a main entrance on the middle story in the front and on the ground story in the back. It had three milking stalls on the lowest level, and it still has two horse stalls on the middle level.
In the early 1960's two buildings were removed from the premises. One was a small house built in the 1920's. The other was a stone garage.
The estate was originally an orchard or fruit farm, according to the deed of 1760 and to the map drawn in 1918. In the early 20th century, the estate had large gardens, and the house was lived in by both the chauffeur for the family in the new, larger house, and the three gardeners. The land and buildings were sold to Moe Tunick in 1964, and was then subdivided and developed into single family houses.
Recently the house has undergone three significant renovations, extending the living space of the house into the lower two levels of the barn, and extending the 1809 house back to create a large new kitchen and a second master bedroom suite. A rear deck and a garage have been added, and the grounds have been relandscaped.