National Register of Historic Places

Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House

New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
Listed
September 15, 2010
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
10000574

About this property

The Elinor and Sherman Ford House is a historic house at 55 Talmadge Hill Road in New Canaan, Connecticut. Built in 1952 for the parents of architect Russell Ford, the house is a good local example of Mid-Century Modern architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The Ford House is located in southern New Canaan, in a residential setting on the north side of Tallmadge Hill Road west of Mansfield Avenue. The house is set on a landscaped 5.2 acres (2.1 ha), accompanied by a period guesthouse and pool house. The main house is a low single-story structure, built with a wood frame and clad in a combination of floor-to-ceiling glass, vertical board siding painted a dark brown, and fieldstone which sometimes extends into stone walls on the property. It is divided into three sections, with wings on the east and west sides of the main block, each having a roof line slightly higher than the main block. The east side of the house is more private, while the west side features more glass in order to engage the outside living spaces of the landscaping. The house was built in 1952-54 for Elinor and Sherman Ford, the parents of architect Russell Ford, who was a partner in the firm Gates and Ford that designed it. It is one of five houses in New Canaan designed by the firm. The house was built on the site of a farmhouse which stood on the property when the Fords purchased it in 1940. The landscaping of the property, completed in 1963, was designed by Fride Stege, one of the few known female landscape designers working in independent practice at the time. National Register of Historic Places listings in Fairfield County, Connecticut

Location

55 Talmadge Hill Rd
New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
41.11473, -73.48833

Categories

SOCIAL HISTORYARCHITECTURELANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Mather, Stephen Tyng, House
Industrial
0.7 mi
Durisol House
Industrial
1.8 mi
Kellogg, Enos, House
Industrial
2.1 mi
Davenport, Deacon John, House
Industrial
2.1 mi
Perkins, Maxwell E., House
Industrial
2.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Burning of Norwalk (1779)
1779Revolutionary War
4.2 mi
Battle of Ridgefield — Compo Hill Landing
1777Revolutionary War
5.9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House listed on the National Register?

Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2010.

What type of historic resource is Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House?

Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House?

The period of significance for Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House is recorded as the industrial era.

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