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New Canaan Now & Then: Brooks Sanatorium

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. The house at the corner of Brooks Road and South Avenue was built in 1898 by Mrs. Thomas W. Hall, who owned the property now known as Waveny Park. 

Mrs. Hall purchased the 11-acre tract of land and built the 11-bedroom, eight-bath house for her nephew, Dr. Charles C. Osborne. Dr. Osborne hoped to establish “a place of rest and recuperation in a healthful climate.”

Unfortunately, Dr. Osborne’s business skills were lacking and he ran up many debts in a short amount of time. A New Canaan Advertiser article dated April 4, 1898 reports that there were rumors of drug use which prompted his hasty departure for Europe in August 1899. Mrs. Hall, who had a mortgage on the property in the amount of $6500 with the New Canaan Savings Bank, sold the property a year later to Dr. Myron B. Brooks and his wife, Marion.

Now & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: Emma J. Bradley Burt Brown Kull

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“New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. In honor of Women’s History Month, this week’s article focuses on Emma J. Bradley Burt Brown Kull, a local businesswoman who lived at 110 Forest Street. 

Ms. Emma Josphine Hubbard was born in Walcott, Connecticut. Miss. Kull, or as she was known at the time, Mrs. Emma J. Bradley, opened the Daylight Bakery in the Oddfellows building (86-90 Main Street) in April of 1911. The bakery also served as a quasi-general store where she kept her wallpaper books for her customers’ use.  Her son, Charles Bradley drove the delivery wagon for the bakery. 

The business was applauded for its cozy cheerful atmosphere.

News

New Canaan Now & Then: The Comstock-Bensen House

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“New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. The Comstock-Bensen House has had surprisingly few owners in its long history, having been built in 1841 (Historical Buildings of CT lists the date as 1842 and the New Canaan Property Records list it as 1850). 

The Greek Revival home on the corner of Main Street and Heritage Hill Road was built by Edson Bradley on land he purchased from Seymour Comstock. Bradley, whose original purchase was only for one half acre, supplemented his property over the thirteen years he owned it by buying small adjoining parcels from Comstock, Samuel Silliman and Samuel Stevens. Edson Bradley was a partner in the shoe making business of Bradley and Benedict. His partner was Caleb S. Benedict.

Now & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: Broad Brook Farm

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“New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. Broad Brook Farm, or 82 Ponus Ridge, as it was named by Edward Plaut in the 1930s, is now a group of houses that make up Broad Brook Drive (which runs directly through the former estate) and surrounding streets. 

Plaut, the Vice President of Lehn & Fink Drug Company in Bloomfield, New Jersey, purchased the property from Gayer Dominick. Mr. Dominick relocated to Silvermine. Broad Brook Farm was immediately a sensation in town, boasting “the largest landscape gardening job in Connecticut” according to the August 17, 1944 article in the Advertiser. Mr. Plaut, who married in 1933, had a very public divorce where his first wife sued him for $350,000 citing  “intolerable cruelty since January 1, 1935.” (April 29, 1937 Advertiser article).

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New Canaan Now & Then: Stepping Stones

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The property located at 705 Weed Street, Stepping Stones, has an interesting past and represents one of the last remaining “grand mansions” in town. 

The property was originally owned by Watts Comstock, who sold the property to produce tycoon Abraham Hatfield. The original house on the property was destroyed by fire, which prompted Mr. Hatfield to request a design that was essentially fireproof. The slate roof and the “falsely timbered beams” are composed of stone carved to resemble wood as well as the mostly stone interior. His architect, Alfred Mausolff, used rough cut stone from nearby Vista, New York both inside and outside. The English Gothic manor house was also outfitted with limestone trim and possesses a sharply peaked roof.