Selling Price: $789,900
WALLINGFORD, Connecticut 06492

MLS#: N222715

In the mid 1880’s – not so very long ago, really – there stood on the corner of North Main Street and Curtis Avenue a small cottage, shaded and sheltered by trellis and grape arbors. From this quaint dwelling, all the way to the house on the corner of North Main and Christian, there were simply acres of open space bordered by large elms and filled with formal gardens. In 1890, the land was purchased and the cottage razed to make way for an immense Queen Anne Victorian which was, of all things, a wedding present!

Georgianna Hall, 18, daughter of Gordon W. Hall, among the founders of Simpson, Hall, Miller and Company, a prominent silver manufactory, had fallen in love with, and had married, according to oral histories whose provenance cannot be discounted, her professor, Mr. Charles Tibbets. So delighted, apparently, with the match was her father, the silver baron, that he gifted the young couple with an edifice which was denied no possible embellishment, and all for the then princely sum of $10,000!  It caused –  as one would expect – a sensation!

Designed by the firm of Allen and Tyler Architectural Associates of New Haven, it was constructed by the C.F. Wooding Company of Wallingford, a name that connotes to this day excellence in craftsmanship; constructed at a time when new tools and “mass produced” components made the extravagant execution of detail and ornamentation possible. The result? A house comprised of one dramatic hallmark of the period after another: complex patterned masonry chimneys, finials capping hipped slate roofs, multi-patterned textures of shingles and clapboard, intricate relief work, small latticed porches, and convex triangular sections in the tops of gables extending forward. The most spectacularly dominant features of the structure, however, are the enormous leaded bow window on the north side, and the soaring tower with conical roof on the south.

The house, even today referred to by those who delight in such history as the “Tibbets House”, was sold in 1961 to a local doctor who “reconfigured” the interior to suite his needs, but to his credit, did nothing that would destroy irrevocably the original elements of this great beauty. “First do no harm” was apparently taken seriously!

In 1998, it was again sold to its current occupants, Dave and Becky Barrett, who, while gradually undertaking its restoration, have established a quite successful bed and breakfast, even as they recall those long ago newlyweds and their families. From the Georgianna and Samuel suites to the Margaret and Tabor Rooms (Georgianna and Samuel’s daughter and son-in-law), the past is joyfully celebrated. There are still the quiet sitting rooms, the sunlit alcoves, the larger, curved windows and the tiled fireplaces, as well as tall French doors opening to private balconies overlooking Main Street. Lucky guests are again entertained in the magnificent diningroom with its massive oak moldings. (Jacuzzis, cable TV., DSL high speed internet access are provided here as well, but they seem only whispered concessions to the present day).

At a time when so many beautiful Victorians are being converted to professional office space, isn’t it wonderfully satisfying to know that this one has survived such an unhappy fate, and is occupied again as it was at the turn of the last century with those who know and appreciate its worth far more than the asking price.
 

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