New Canaan Now & Then: The Charles Weed House

‘Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris.

The frame house on Weed Street was built in the 1750s for Charles Weed. 

His father, also Charles Weed, was the cousin of the better known Weeds who settled further south. Mr. Weed and his wife Susannah were listed among the members of a church in Darien as late as June 4, 1744, indicating they had lived in Darien prior to the move to New Canaan. The Weeds were married on November 15, 1733 in Stamford, Connecticut. Mr. Weed died in 1759 and the property was passed to his eldest son, Charles, who was born in 1734. 

The will stated that the property contained a house with a second home being built. This second home became the family home for the Weeds. It is assumed that the original home may have become a shop at some point. The bulk of the Weed property was on the Stamford side of what then divided Stamfod and Norwalk (with New Canaan not being legally formed until 1801). Mr. Weed was a farmer and had 150 acres bounded on the south by the “new highway” Wahackme Road which he helped to lay out with his neighbors. While his eldest son inherited the 54 acre property in New Canaan, his other sons (Enos who was born October 28, 1737, Jeniel who was born March 2, 1739 and Thadeus born May 4, 1747) inherited the farm land together with his holdings in Westchester County. 

As was the custom,  his wife, Susannah  inherited “two rooms in her late husband’s house, together with the Great Bay at the end of the Barn” along with household items like a feather bed and a “pigin pail.” She lived in the home with her son and his wife. Elizabeth Hoyt [Hait], daughter of David Hoyt [Hait]was born in 1729. They were married on January 28, 1762.  

The junior Mr. Weed was the first of what could be considered successful Charles Weeds in New Canaan. His name appears on the Stamford Committee for the Relief of the Poor in Boston in 1775 and on the Stamford Committee of Safety during the Revolution. He was an active member of the community.  Mr. Weed and his wife had three children: Hannah born October 21, 1762, Charles born June 13, 1765 and Enos born October 19, 1770. The son of Charles and Elizabeth married Rachel Mead on January 3, 1794. Ms. Rachel Weed was born in Greenwich on February 17, 1766. 

The Weeds had four children: Charles who was born in 1799, Erastus who was born in 1795, Lucy born in 1797, Elizabeth born in 1803 and Sarah Julia born in 1804. Sadly, Charles died on March 23, 1821 at the age of 22. His brother Nemehiah inherited the property [some sources list his name as Erastus] along with his sisters. 

In addition to farming, the family supplemented their income by selling cotton and linen cloth. It is speculated that the “shop and fourteen acres” identified in Charles’ will were the original house and property on the opposite Weed Street side. Mr. Nemehiah Weed was unmarried and lived in the house until April 2, 1866 when he died. He had served on the board of the local school district and was selectman from 1859-1863. Either during his ownership or while his father was still the owner the frame house was renovated and nearly doubled in size. 

After his death the home was passed to his sisters, Lucy and Elizabeth. The Weeds were considered wealthy in the day and held many mortgages in town and owned stock in the Stamford and New Canaan banks and the Norwalk Insurance Company. The sisters sold off sixty acres running north to West Road “reserving the right to occupy the Carriage House.” Neither woman married and when Lucy died in 1877 her will stated that she owned the house (her sister had predeceased her in 1869). Ms. Lucy Weed left $12,000 to the Congregational Church plus additional $3000 for a lecture room (there is a plaque commemorating her generosity.) It is unclear why the property was left to William St. John when she died who was living in Virginia at the time. Mr. St. John owned the home for six years and then it was sold to George H. Wildman. Mr. Wildman was from Yonkers, New York. The property included eighty two acres when it was sold. 

Mr. Wildman lived at the home for thirteen years. Mr. Wildman was married to Mary J. Porter in Danbury, Connecticut on Christmas Day in 1864. The Wildmans had two sons, William M. Wildman who was born in 1867 and Horace Porter Wildman who was born in 1873. The house was sold between 1895-1898 to Mrs. Lawrence D. Alexander.

Mrs. Alexander bought the frame house and a good deal of land surrounding the property. (See the New Canaanite Now & Then dated April 5, 2023 for more information on Mrs. Alexander and the house she built on the property.) The Weed family frame house was used as a tenant house for her employees. The twenty six years of use as tenant housing left the home badly run down before it was purchased in 1923 by Benjamin P. Vanderhoef. The property included four acres when it was acquired by the Vanderhoefs. Mr. Vanderhoef worked for Dun & Bradstreet. His family lived in the home for several years along with his sister in law Miss Maud Mason, a well regarded still life painter. The Vanderhoefs had lived on Park Street prior to buying this property. See New Canaanite Then & Now dated April 11, 2024 for information on their prior home. The Vanderhoefs hired local architect Calvin Kiessling to remodel the home. Mr. Kiessling revived the property while preserving the historic aspects of the home such as adding the pillared facade, using a“loggia” (the old horse stalls) north of the living room to connect with the additions. The former old barn became the art studio for Ms. Mason. 

The home was so tastefully transformed that it appeared in many publications such as The Architect  in 1924, House and Garden in 1926, Decorative Arts in 1927. It was also pictured in the Encyclopedia Britannica 13th edition as an example of colonial architecture at its best. The gardens were designed by Ms. Mason and her sister, Ms. Elizabeth Mason Vanderhoef. 

In 1941 the property was sold to  R. Morton Adams and his wife. Mr. Adams was born January 16, 1900 in New York City. Mr. Adams  attended Stevens Institute of Technology and received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1921. He graduated from Fordham Law School in 1924. He married Mercedes M. Cullinan on June 19, 1937. Mr. Adams was a patent lawyer with the firm Pennie, Edmonds, Morton, Barrows and Taylor. He purchased more acreage than the original four acres  on either side of Weed Street and in 1951 a small lake was created. Mr. Adams was a president of the New York Patent Law Association and was the brother of Francis W. H. Adams, who was a former New York City Police Commissioner. Mr. Adams died on November 2, 1972. 

The house was sold on June 16, 1976 to Dr. James Guthrie. Dr. Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 19, 1930 and graduated from Villanova University and New York University medical school in 1961. He was drafted and served in Korea where he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Dr. Guthrie was the chief of surgery at Raritan Valley Hospital from 1966 to 1972. He moved to Connecticut and became the first colorectal surgeon in Southern Connecticut. His leadership extended across many medical organizations and he served as President for both the New England Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the Norwalk Medical Society. 

In 2008 he was presented the inaugural Paul K Maloney, Jr, MD Distinguished Service Award by the Connecticut State Medical Society. Dr. Guthrie was a dedicated surgeon but was also deeply involved in the community. Along with his friend Dr. Paul Maloney, he founded the Irish Brigade, an informal marching and chowder society that hosted an annual event to build collegiality within the hospital and the community at large. With Carol Bauer, he started the annual Gala Dinner Dance, a fundraiser for the hospital. 

Ms. Guthrie was born in Poughkeepsie New York and met Dr. Guthrie at Bellevue Hospital where she was the head nurse of the urology department. The Guthries lived in New Canaan for over twenty years. Mrs. Guthrie died in February 2012. She was a long time member of the Norwalk Hospital Women’s Board, co-chairman of the annual Norwalk Hospital Gala for several years, and a volunteer at the Treasure House, the Norwalk Hospital Thrift Shop. She was also a fundraiser for the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Research Foundation, an organization founded by her husband which endows surgical professorships and research at countless major medical schools and hospitals throughout the country. The Guthries sold the home to the current owners in 1997.