575 Leetes Island Road

Guilford, CT 06437

Perched atop a gentle rise overlooking Shell Beach lagoon across the road, and Long Island Sound in the distance, is the Pelatiah Leete House, one of Guilford's oldest and most completely preserved 18th century dwelling houses. Built circa 1710 by Pelatiah Leete, grandson of Guilford founder and first governor of the united Connecticut colony, William Leete, the house is a classic New England saltbox, with a Georgian style facade arranged around the original carved pediment and pilasters flanking the formal entry door. Built in the medieval English post and beam/plank on frame construction manner, the house is a perfect cube of solid American Chestnut, with massive two story high chestnut planks nailed vertically to the framing, and centered around a massive three story center chimney built of the local granite stone. Pelatiah Leete House was one of the first Connecticut buildings added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and was later designated in 1990 as a contributing structure for the National Register Route 146 Historic District, which follows the contours of State Route 146 in front of the dwelling, and is the only National Register-listed building along the Guilford portion of that district. Over the years it has attracted consistent interest from architectural historians and travel writers alike, appearing first in a 1960s New York Times travel article, as well as the front cover and interior of the 1976 bicentennial year book "Restored America"., In more recent years, its image and history have been the centerpiece of full page ads in Yankee Magazine for Old Village Paints, America's oldest paint company, whose classic New England Red color is the house's signature hue, and a 2019 feature in CT Old House Journal online. The house is surrounded by extensive newly installed gardens, including 4 separate garden rooms for outdoor entertaining and relaxation, as well as a stunning granite stone walled terrace, floored in Pennsylvania blue stone, that was created by renowned Master Dry Wall builder Andrew Pighills, from Yorkshire, in the rear ell of the dwelling, with direct access from both the modern and colonial kitchens inside. A rushing brook runs from a cattle pond at the western boundary of the property over a spillway, before continuing through the property to Shell Beach lagoon and the Long Island Sound beyond, contributing the relaxing sound of moving water to the front garden rooms. The central garden room by the dining terrace, and pondside garden room at the rear, are planted with 17th and 18th century heirloom apple varieties, including the rare Connecticut Sheepnose variety, as well as the oldest apple variety in New England, the 1635 Roxbury Russet. The interior of Pelatiah Leete House contains extraordinary wide planked chestnut floorboards, two rare Guilford Cupboards built into the SE and SW corners of the downstairs parlors, three fully functioning beehive ovens, four working fireplaces, including one massive 9 foot wide cooking fireplace in the old kitchen of the house, and hand forged iron cranes built into the walls of two of the cooking fireboxes downstairs. Each and every post and beam in the house has chamfered edges that end in a wholly decorative lamb's tongue stop, showing the emphasis on decoration by the builders, which reaches its apogee in the extraordinary carvings of the Basque "lauburu" design over the flanking pilasters and inside the front door pediment, which the current owners had covered with gold leaf to preserve them from further weathering. The Pelatiah Leete House offers a unique marriage of early American architectural splendor with modern interior conveniences, and extensive exterior plantings and garden rooms, to provide both privacy and pleasure to its new owners for many years yet to come.

Listing courtesy of Carol Mancini of William Pitt Sotheby's Int'l



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