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A Frogtown Road home that is widely hailed as a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed masterpiece—“Tirranna,” built in 1955 for John Rayward (it’s also known as the ‘Rayward-Shepherd House’) sold on March 30 for $4.8 million, according to a property transfer in the Town Clerk’s office. See photos here. The 7-bedroom home sits above a waterfall. ‘Tirranna’ is an Australian Aboriginal word that means “running waters.”

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Police on Tuesday received a report that bunches of grapes—which are toxic to dogs—had been found in Spencer’s Run. It’s against the regulations of the dog park to bring in human food.

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The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that there’s a 15-year-old football phenom in New Canaan who’s been offered a college football scholarship at Florida State University. Quarterback Drew Pyne is 15 years old and six-foot-one and 170 pounds, according to the Sentinel’s Chris Hays. He plans to start playing at New Canaan High School in Lou Marinelli’s program starting next year, Shays reported in a blog post. The teen (see video above) is from an established football family and his father, a prominent figure in the sports business world, confirmed the flattering offer from FSU in the article though he did not wish to speak on-record about it, according to Hays. ***

Frank Maltese, popular conductor of the 7:56 a.m. “gentlemen’s train” out of New Canaan, had this to say following publication on NewCanaanite.com of an article about his retirement at the end of next month: “To the people that took an interest in me and who gave me the gratification of putting me into the New Canaanite paper, I would like to thank you.”

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Police have been called twice in the pre-dawn hours during the past two weeks on reports of barking dogs on Bridle Path Lane, at 3:28 a.m. on March 27 and then 4:32 a.m. on March 30.

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The conspicuous commercial space located at a corner of Elm Street and South Avenue, long occupied by Sallea Antiques, will not be vacant for long after that shop closes its doors in the coming weeks. Heather Gaudio Fine Art, for four years located a bit further down South Avenue, is set to move in as early as September. “We’re incredibly excited,” owner Heather Gaudio told NewCanaanite.com. “I think it’s an amazing space.” The longtime Sallea space offers Gaudio more operational space (for example, packaging), and more storage, including for wine to be used at a grand opening party that likely will come in October. Stay tuned.

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One of New Canaan’s most prominent homes—the stately ca. 1910 Colonial at 275 Main St. (on the left as you climb toward the crest of the final hill toward town)—is hitting the market Tuesday at $2,695,000. From a website featuring the property, owned by Denise Gannalo: “The house on Main Street that you have been waiting for. This turn of the century timeless classic has been lovingly restored, renovated and updated with up to the minute elegance and detailed character.

News

High Praise for ‘Respectful’ Renovation and Expansion at Hoyt and Main

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A newly renovated house on a prominent Main Street corner is earning high praise for its preservation of the original 1903 structure that stands there and consideration for the neighborhood’s streetscape, as well as a respectful expansion that a series of prior owners had failed to execute, experts say. The recently completed alterations at 224 Main St. follow a stripping-off of additions and siding to get to an original “skeleton of the house” that was retained and then expanded on “in a way that looks as though they grew it over the past 100 years, like a natural progression of architecture, and that’s fantastic,” said New Canaan resident Martin Skrelunas, an architecture and landscape preservationist. “The parts that the developer tore off were themselves very insensitive, they had no relationship to the antique house or the neighborhood,” Skrelunas continued. “What I would say they’ve done—and I hate using these words because they’re not easy to translate—but they’re respecting the original building and ‘maintaining the hierarchy.’ So the antique portion of the house is the most important and largest in this case, and as each new function was designed and built, it recedes a little bit.