Springbank is a historic country estate at 69 Neck Road in

Old Lyme Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located in Old Lyme and ther ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Built upon a small core structure dating from around 1730, the main house consists of an 1844 Greek Revival brick structure, to which a number of Colonial Revival additions and alterations were made between about 1930 and 1945. The property also includes formal gardens designed by

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

Marian Cruger Coffin Marian Cruger Coffin (September 16, 1876 – February 2, 1957) was an American landscape architect who became famous for designing numerous gardens for members of the East Coast elite. As a child, she received almost no formal education but wa ...

. The property is notable as a well-documented and preserved smaller-scale example of her work. and The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on August 17, 2001.

Description and history

Springbank is located in a rural residential area on the east side of Neck Road (

Connecticut Route 156 Route 156 is a Connecticut state highway running from East Haddam to Waterford. Route description Route 156 begins at an intersection with Route 82 in southeastern East Haddam and heads southeast into Lyme. It continues south through Lyme int ...

), a short way north of its junction with Talcott Farm Road. A short entrance drive provides access to a parking area and garage, which are set near the road, with the house behind the parking area. The formal gardens are arranged in terraces to the north of the house and east of the garage. The house is a -story brick building, the product of an evolutionary construction history with multiple gables and roof lines. Its principal facade faces south, with a projecting entrance vestibule flanked by sash windows, with a larger picture window extending the facade to the right. It is set on a stone foundation that is exposed in front of the parking area due to the sloping terrain, with secondary entrances into that level. The house was built in 1844 by Thomas Pilgrim, owner of a landing on the nearby

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

, who promptly sold it. It was owned by a succession of lower-middle class owners through 1928. It was bought by Katherine Talcott, a member of the Old Saybrook Garden Club, who probably added the garage and may have begun landscaping the property. The next owners, Arthur and Gertrude Wild, bought the property in 1935, and retained Robert Carter, a local architect, to design a major Colonial Revival restyling of the house. They also retained Marian Cruger Coffin to develop the gardens around Carter's design. Coffin's design is essentially a small-scale version of work she typically did for much larger country estates.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut Houses completed in 1936 Old Lyme, Connecticut Houses in New London County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References