BY DIRK PERREFORT
Hearst Connecticut Media
Sitting in the living room of their converted 19th century barnhouse, Phil and Bitty Smith said they often enjoyed watching the snow fall over the New England countryside while listening to the babbling brook in their backyard.
“It was magical,” said Smith, who is a New York City school teacher as well as an artisan and poet. “The holidays in the home were always very warm and cozy. Sometimes, we even had a white Christmas. It felt like we were in a movie.”
The Smiths said they purchased the home on South Salem Road about 15 years ago as a country escape. They said they quickly fell in love with the home and its large hand-hewn beams crossing the cathedral ceiling in the living room, which counts among its accents a large stone fireplace.
“It”™s not the normal kind of house,” Smith said. “It has a personality all its own and that”™s very hard to find. It fit our personalities perfectly.”
The Smiths listed the 3,000-square-foot home, which sits on about 2 acres, with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage for an asking price of about $659,000. It is one of four converted barn homes on the market this fall in Ridgefield.
“In all my years, I”™ve never seen four converted barns available on the market at the same time,” said John Frey, a real estate agent with Coldwell. “It”™s really quite an opportunity for someone who is looking for this type of lifestyle. I don”™t know how many converted barns there are in town, but last year we sold two.”
Besides the house on South Salem Road, Coldwell has listed a converted barn on Ivy Hill Road for $1.45 million. The 5,700-square-foot home boasts a two-story-tall great room with wooden beams, fieldstone fireplaces, wide-plank flooring and walls of glass overlooking the manicured gardens.
While a 19th century barn, it is an 18th-century property and had extensive orchards and many outbuildings at that time. The home next door was a hospital for British soldiers during the Battle of Ridgefield and it is believed this barn housed the hospital”™s horses and carriages.
The property includes two rental apartments and a separate office.
Other available properties include post-and-beam barn renovated in 1998 on Peacable Street listed for $799,000 and a converted barn with more than four acres available on New Road in Ridgefield for $665,000.
“I don”™t know how long these homes are going to last,” Frey said. “Once someone sees a converted barn with hand-hewn beams, they often fall in love with the place.”
Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News Times (Danbury). See newstimes.com for more from this reporter.
