‘Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris.
Wisteria Hill on Smith Ridge Road was built in 1910 for Mr. William Harris Cary.
The property was purchased from Frederick S. Odell of Mount Vernon, N.Y. Mr. Odell was a surveyor and had a hand in the development of Mead Park and Lakeview Cemetery. It does appear that he never lived on the property. The land was described as being part of the 50-acre parcel that Odell had purchased in 1905 from Mr. Alfred Newton Oakley of Pleasantville, N.Y. Mr. Odell sold to Edward Beers Thomas and his son in law William H. Cary, both of Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 2, 1909. Mr. Thomas was a judge of the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court and Mr. Cary was a partner in the real estate firm of Cary, Harmon & Company. Mr. Cary was married to the Judge’s only child, Katherine, on Nov. 24, 1897.
Judge Thomas was born in Cortland New York on Aug. 4, 1874 and died on April 12, 1953. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Babcock was born in Syracuse, New York on July 24, 1848 and died on July 6, 1937. Their daughter, Katharine Babcock Thomas was born on February 26, 1874. Mr. William Harris Cary was the son of Isaac Harris Cary and Cornelia Hull Cary. He was born May 3, 1872. Mr. Cary graduated from Harvard University in 1894.
On March 18, 1910, Mr. Cary gave Judge Thomas single title to land and the “house” and Judge Thomas gave Mr. Cary full title to land “and buildings”. The transactions only identified the two tracts of land as the northerly and southerly part of what they had purchased from Mr. Odell. The partnership between the two men also included 15 acres south and east of Cary’s land and Judge Thomas eventually quit-claimed his interest in this parcel to Mr. Cary in Oct. 29, 1924.
Wisteria Hill was built while the Cary family rented the summer home of Ralph K. Shephard on South Avenue for the warm months. Mr. Shephard was an architect in New York with offices on 38th Street, who designed and supervised the building of the new Center School. It does not appear that he was the architect of Cary’s home. On Oct. 1, 1910 it was reported in the New Canaan Messenger that Mr. Cary’s family had moved into the home. The Carys had three sons when they moved to Wisteria Hill: William H. Jr. (born Nov. 9, 1897), Edward (born Nov. 30, 1901) and George (born Aug. 31 1907). Their fourth son, Francis Frothingham Cary was born March 22, 1912. William Jr., George and Francis all graduated from Williams. Mr. William Jr. became an assistant dean at Harvard University.
The New Canaan Garden Club was founded in 1909 and Ms. Cary was an early member. By 1915 she was serving on the exhibition committee and then as a flower show judge. She became president of the Garden Club in 1930, by which time she was nationally known for her flower arrangements.
She was also locally famous for her collection of flower containers, which she often gave to friends and to the Congregational Church where she arranged Sunday flowers. The gardens at Wisteria Hill were described by her youngest son, Dr. Francis Cary, in a letter sent to the New Canaan Historical Society in 1985, as being laid out so that from the middle of the front hall one looked down the path, past the pool to the fruit trees, the vegetable garden and the grape vines below. He went on to describe the garden as having a circular pool, garden beds, hedges, vistas and “axes.” Dr. Cary reported that despite the fact that Frederic Law Olmsted Jr. was the architect of three other New Canaan estates that he “never heard Mother mention the name of Mr. Olmsted or any other in relation to the landscaping, and she wasn’t afraid to drop a name or two if she wished.” George Finney, the local gardener, was responsible for adding the two rectangular pools at the south end of the formal garden in the 1920s.
On the south side there was a rock garden that was put there in the late ‘20s under the direction of Bradford Williams. Mr. Williams was the college roommate of William Cary Jr. and the long-time editor of “Landscape Architecture quarterly.” Ms. Friede Stege, a landscape architect from Silvermine, also assisted Ms. Cary with the garden and became the recipient of three of the four statues that once stood in the Cary garden. Ms. Stege also believes that another landscape architect, Marjorie Sewall Cautley, worked on the property. Ms. Cautley, a graduate of Cornell University is best known for her designs at Hearst Castle. On a side note, Ms. Friede was an accomplished landscape architect who pursued her degree and established her own business after her husband George’s untimely death.
Friede Recknagel was born in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. on Christmas Day in 1896. Her father ran a coffee and spice business and her mother was a concert pianist that studied under Franz Liszt. She married George H. Stege in 1920 and they moved to New Canaan that same year. Mr. Stege died in 1937 and Ms. Stege who had studied art history at Packer Collegiate Institute in New York City enrolled at Columbia University to study landscape architecture. Ms. Stege served on the advisory committee of the Merritt Parkway construction and fought to make sure that the highway was done tastefully. Ms. Stege designed mostly home gardens but is responsible for the landscaping done in the 1930s to the old town hall, the landscaping at Norwalk Hospital, and the triangle at Route 123 and East Avenue. In 1922 she joined the New Canaan Garden Club and at the time of her death in 1991 was one of only three members bestowed with the honor of being an honorary member. She was 94 when she died. It seems evident that Ms. Cary and Ms. Stege would have had a strong common interest. Ms. Cary’s commitment to gardening was honored by the Garden Club of America creating a medal that honors outstanding achievement in floral design. The medal was designed by Karl Gruppe in 1955.
The assessor’s records of 1910 list Katharine T. Cary as a non-resident owner of 10.5 acres of land, valued at $3,150 and a residence valued at $18,000. Judge Thomas was assessed for 11 ½ acres and two houses valued at $3,450 and $4,000 respectively. One of these houses was the former Samuel Benedict house which was built in 1730 and occupied land that straddled the property line of the Thomases and the Carys. In 1911 it was moved to Michigan Road and is part of the center portion of the home at 152 Michigan Road. When the Benedict home was relocated, Judge Thomas built 713 Smith Ridge Road, which was assessed in 1911 with a value of $15,000. When Judge Thomas died (10 years after he retired from the Supreme Court) his wife, Mary Elizabeth Babcock Thomas was given a life estate in his Brooklyn home and the New Canaan property. His daughter, Ms. Cary had the remaining rights to his estate.
On May 1, 1950 the Carys sold both pieces of property to Ms. Hilde Henderson Schriber (24 acres). The Carys purchased 390 Oenoke Ridge on September 26, 1950. Mr. William H. Cary died on Oct. 5, 1951 and Ms. Cary died on April 12, 1953 in Lake Wales Florida.
Ms. Hilde (Holly) Henderson Schriber was born in New York City in 1919. Her parents were Margaret Enghard and Karl Christian Seelbach.
Ms. Schriber graduated from the Barnard School and Wellesley College. She married Clark Lee Henderson in 1940 and was widowed after WWII. She married Thomas Morgan Schriber in 1947 and moved to New Canaan. Ms. Schriber was involved in the Red Cross, the New Canaan Sewing Group, the New Canaan Garden Club and the New Canaan Nature Center. She was also co-owner of the Yarn Tree which sold yarn and Ms. Schriber designed and knit sweaters. She married her third husband, Harvey Lee Rohde in 1992. Ms. Schriber Rohde died on May 27, 2020. Ms. Schriber and her husband sold the home in November 1951 to William R. Adams of Watertown, New York for $35,000.
Mr. William Rally Adams was born in Albany, N.Y. on March 17,1907. He graduated from Union College in 1928. He married his wife, Florence Ely Taggart on July 10, 1937. Ms. Taggart was born in Watertown, New York on April 9, 1910. Mr. Adams became a member of the Union College Alumni Fund in 1953. In 1937 he began his career at the St. Regis Paper Company and later became president of the company. At some point prior to the 1969 wedding announcement for Ms. Lucy Adams, the family gave the home the name “Highlawn”. The Adams’ had three children: Thomas Schuyler (born 1938), Taggart Donaldson (born 1941) and Lucy Ely (born 1952). Both Mr. Taggart Adams and Ms. Lucy Adams pursued legal careers and became judges. Mr. Taggart Adams attended Hamilton College and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. Ms. Adams attended Smith College and received her law degree from Berkeley Law School. Mr. Thomas Adams graduated from Princeton in 1961 after attending Deerfield and played both varsity baseball and basketball for the Tigers. He became a teacher in 1961 at the St. Mark’s School in Texas where he had recently retired at the time of his death in 2020. Mr. Thomas Adams coached at least two generations of youth basketball including a National All Star championship playoff team from New Canaan. He was honored by the New Canaan Old Timers Association and the Alumni Athletic Association. Mr. William Rally Adams died on July 12, 1979 at the age of 79. Ms. Florence Adams lived to be 99 and died in 2009.
In 1984 the property was sold to Joe Lindell Roby for $800,000. Mr. Roby was the son of Gerald D. Roby of Paducah, Kentucky. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1961 and received his MBA from Harvard in 1967. He married Hilppa Alile Katrina Pirila on June 15, 1984. His first wife Elizabeth Shute died in October 1980. Mr. Roby created a scholarship fund at Harvard for women in the MBA program in honor of his late wife who graduated from the program in 1967. At the time of his purchase Mr. Roby was the managing director of investment banking at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc. Mr. Roby went on to become the chief executive officer of DLJ and continued his position when the firm merged with Credit Suisse First Boston. The Museum has correspondence suggesting that the Robys had some United Nations connections but this could not be verified.
The real estate listing of the property includes details of plaster moldings hand cast by historic renovator, Frank Wells. The home has 12-foot ceilings in all of the public rooms on the first floor. The listing also describes a “puzzle room” that is octagonal in shape and has four corners of glass allowing a view into the family room. The original kitchen was listed as the breakfast room with the new kitchen occupying two stories and having five gothic shaped windows. The Robys sold the property to Walter A. Forbes in December of 1997 for $4,650,000.
Mr. Forbes was born in Rockland, Ill. and was the son of Duncan Forbes III. Mr. Forbes was adopted by his uncle Seely Forbes who was a retired circuit judge. He graduated from the Hill School, Northwestern University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He and Ms. Caren Suzanne Utzig were married in August 1981 at the Silvermine Inn. He was the chairman of the Cendant Corporation and was convicted in 2007 of securities fraud. His wife, Caren Forbes—longtime owner of a hugely popular clothing and accessories shop that used to sit in a second-floor space on Main Street—filed for divorce and received the home as part of her divorce settlement. However, in an unusual move the U.S. Attorney’s Office intervened and demanded that Ms. Forbes transfer ownership of the house back to her former husband so it can be attached by Cendant and the U.S. government. She was also asked to return to her husband their 14-acre property in Wascott, R.I. Ms. Forbes is listed as the owner prior to the current owners’ purchase of the property in September 2010.