Now & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: Charles Edwin Thomas Fairty ‘CET’ House

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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 located at 107 Old Stamford Road was built for Charles Edwin Thomas Fairty (aka CET or Ned). 

CET was born on March 26, 1887 to Charles Henry Fairty and Sophie Catherine Rover. Mr. Fairty married Lura Hoyt Raymond on June 2, 1909. Lura was born on October 14, 1886 to Walker Samuel Raymond and Annie Shaw Hoyt. An interesting aside is that she is reported to have worn her own wedding dress to the wedding of Lucy A. Scoville where she was the maid of honor, which seems odd in today’s world but was apparently common practice months after her own wedding.

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New Canaan Now & Then: Notable Dogwood Lane Home

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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 brick house located at 46 Dogwood Lane has been home to some notable families in New Canaan since it was built in 1936. 

The first owner listed in the land records was Phyllis A. Warmoth on May 28, 1938. Mrs. Warmoth had married Frank Sheridan Warmoth, the son of Henry Clay Warmoth, on October 2, 1911 in York, Ontario. Henry was 26 years old when he was elected governor of Louisiana, making him one of the youngest governors elected in the history of the United States. 

Governor Warmoth served the state from 1868 to 1872. He was impeached in 1872 after facing criticism for weakening civil rights legislation and endorsing a Democrat (he was a Republican) as his successor.

Crajah House

New Canaan Now & Then: The Crajah House

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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 Crajah House at 757 Oenoke Ridge Road was named after the owners Charles Riley Abbot and Jane Anne Humphrey. The “CRA” for Charles and the “JAH” for Jane. 

It was built beginning in 1886 and completed in 1887. A marble plaque still exists in the basement inscribed CRA-JAH HOUSE. The paddocks and gardens were added at a later date and the current barns were built in 1951, according to the land records. 

The superintendent’s cottage, which was the original home on the property and known as the Betts Bagley House, was built between 1729 and 1733 by John Betts.

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New Canaan Now & Then: The Valentine Estate

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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 LeeFair Condominiums on South Avenue have an interesting history. The original home, which was often referred to as “The Valentine Estate,” was built for Luciano Fabbricotti and his wife, Sarah Frances Moller Fabbricotti. 

Ms. Fabbricotti, born on November 15, 1861, was the daughter of John “The Commodore” Moller and Louise Moller. John Moller was born in 1837 and died in 1923 in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was in the sugar industry. Luciano Fabbricotti was born in 1861 to Otavian and Adele Fabbricotti.  The Fabbricotti family controlled the Cerrera marble industry in Italy.

News

New Canaan Now & Then: The Mardon House

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‘New Canaan Now & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Karen Ceraso, Bettina Hegel and Schuyler Morris. 785 Smith Ridge Road, known as the Mardon House, was named for Marjorie and Donald F. Crane who built the home in 1937. 

Donald Crane was a long standing summer resident from New York who fondly remembered as a ten year old boy boarding at the Keeler Farm and riding to Stamford with Farmer Keeler when he drove the big truck to deliver his vegetables. Crane graduated from Cornell in 1910 and served as a first lieutenant in the field artillery in World War I. He married Marjorie Oppenheim who had served as an ambulance driver in France during World War I.

The Cranes had two children, Anthony Barnum Crane and Donald Frazer Crane, Jr. Anthony Crane attended St. Lukes School, the Kent School, and Cornell University. Sadly, Anthony Crane died in a fatal car accident in South Bend, Indiana at the age of 31 in 1960.