ARDLEY



      This Colonial Revival house was built in 1904 and for a brief time served as a school for lace-making. One of the most important early examples of the Colonial Revival style in the Borough of Litchfield, this house features an elaborate central entrance bay. Details include a palladian window flanked by double-hung windows, set above a broad Ionic frontispiece framing the six-panel door. Other highlights include a Scott pool surrounded by lovely formal gardens and original interior and exterior architectural details.

CHARLES DEMING HOUSE

      Designed by E.K. Rossiter of the New York firm Rossiter and Wright, this Colonial Revival home was completed in 1900. During the 1960's, the dining room was moved from the front north side to the back of the house, where it overlooks the beautifully landscaped gardens. The wide center hall that extends from the front door to the large back window is graced by a handsome stairway that opens to a second floor balcony. Highlights of this lovely home include beautiful Rossiter-style trim and moldings in the center hallway and front rooms and a dining room floor made of Italian marble.

HOLMES MORSE HOUSE

      Built in 1874, this Victorian Italianate home features a truncated hip roof built with some of the property's American chestnut trees. Each principal face of the roof is set with a cross-gable detailed with a stick-style gable piece, which is typical of architecture of the Victorian era. Other highlights of this house include a library/study with a molded metal ceiling and a Victorian fireplace made of slate and painted to look like marble; original pine floors, doors and ceramic door knobs; a spacious eat-in kitchen, accessible from the parlor or the dining room; and an extensive back wing with a large stone patio and swimming pool.

LYMAN SMITH HOUSE

      

Built in 1833, this home combines two styles: a High-style Federal, superimposed on an older Georgian central hall, double-chimney Colonial. A Grecian influence is exhibited by the shallow hip-roofed Ionic portico sheltering the main entrance, pedimented gable ends, and eight-panel Greek Revival front door flanked by delicate sidelights. The gracious staircase in the entrance hall was designed in the Federal style with plain balusters, a molded handrail and tiger maple newel post. The kitchen was added in 1860 and the original fireplace with beehive oven was uncovered and restored in a 1983 renovation.

TALLMADGE STORE/JAMES C. WADSWORTH HOUSE

      
This Federal and Colonial Revival style home was constructed as early as 1782, and originally served as a mercantile store, before being moved to its current location. The store is said to have been used as a Post Office when Benjamin Tallmadge was appointed Litchfield's Post Master in 1792. In 1811, Colonel Tallmadge bought a property on the east side of North Street and moved his store to the present location and converted it into a home. The living room, originally the kitchen, has a large cooking fireplace with bread oven. Other features include six fireplaces, with original wood mantel; original 12 over 12 windows and wrought iron hardware throughout; and a rear kitchen addition overlooking rose and perennial gardens.

Points of interest on the 2010 Tour include the Oliver Wolcott Library, the churches in Litchfield and Lourdes of Litchfield, a shrine built in 1954 by the Montfort Missionaries as a replica of the famous Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The Litchfield History Museum and the Tapping Reeve House and Law School, recognized as the first law school in America, will also be included in the admission price of the Tour. The History Museum will feature an exhibition, Goods for Sale! Cash, Credit and Trade in Litchfield 1790 ­ 1850, which will focus on Litchfield's economic history during the first half of the nineteenth century.