Imagine building your dream house and filling it with everything you ever wanted,
then never getting a chance to enjoy it. Hi everyone, ken here,
welcome to this house. Today we are exploring Elm Park in Norwalk, Connecticut. Make sure to
hit that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of this house.
In 1820, LeGrand Lockwood was born into a humble family. His father Benjamin was a
cobbler in the small town of Norwalk Connecticut where his ancestors had settled nearly 200 years
earlier. Benjamin had a reputation as an honest man and taught his sons to value integrity above
all else. At this time, New York City was booming, so the family relocated to Brooklyn
and opened up a clothing store. In no time at all, they had grown their business from a
brick and mortar to become one of the largest traders of textiles in the state. LeGrand saw
other opportunity in new York, textiles did not interest him, but numbers did. So he broke from
his families business to become a stockbroker. He was known not only to be business savvy,
but to be a trustworthy and charming man. His clients valued his honest advice and in just a
few short years he climbed to the top of industry. Because of his outstanding reputation, he was
appointed the Treasurer of the New York Stock Exchange. He then fell in love with and married
Ann Louisa Benedict and the young couple got busy growing their family to include 8 children.
During this time the Lockwoods hired famed architect Detlef Lineau to design
for them New York City’s very first second empire style residence along 5th avenue,
but they would soon have more work for the architect to do.
Business was booming. The civil war was breaking out and LeGrand saw an
opportunity to multiply his wealth. He headed off to Europe to sell union
bonds. He was so successful at selling them that he returned as one of the wealthiest
men in the united states and one of the country’s very first multi-millionaires.
The Lockwoods began searching for the perfect place to build a summer home. LeGrand returned
home to Norwalk and found 30 pristine acres to purchase. He once again hired Lineau to design
a grand Victorian home that would be named Elm Park. It was composed of granite blocks nearly
2 feet wide and faced with ashlar. Intricate details varied across the façade ranging from
gothic to Italianate. All together, the mansion boasted 62 rooms spread across 44,000 square feet.
Passing through a rounded double door, you would enter the vestibule. Marble mosaic floors broke
out into an array of geometric patterns. To one side, an urn stood centered on a semicircular
window bay barreling to join the groin vault ornamented with hand stenciled floral motifs.
Continuing on, the marble mosaic transformed to a more repetitive pattern as they spilled
into the entrance hall offset by marble columns supporting the coffered ceiling.
Continuing on, the space dramatically opened to a 2 story rotunda illuminated by an expansive
skylight soaring overhead. To one end was the grand staircase, sweeping towards the marble
floor with newel posts supporting bronze figures triumphantly lighting the way.
The Rotunda doubled as an art gallery and held the Lockwood’s prized possession, the painting
“Domes of Yosemite” by Bierstadt. LeGrand had commissioned this piece as a custom work in 1867
for the staggering price of 25,000 dollars, or the modern day equivalent of nearly 500,000 dollars.
The Lockwoods had a taste for fine art. Throughout the house, you will notice
many small details worked into every surface. While the Lockwoods were planning their home,
they spent time in Europe hand selecting furniture and art, but they also wanted a
level of craftsmanship that only old world techniques could provide. While in Italy,
they hired stone masons and wood carvers, masters of their crafts, to return with them
to the united states. The artists collected rare and exotic materials on the Lockwood’s behalf to
have loaded into the ship that would take them to Connecticut. Once there, the artists lived
in the house, working day and night, until it was finished. This level of dedication to
craftsmanship yielded truly unique and elegant features that make Elm Park distinguished.
Seeing these details come together in the library is just one of the special places where art and
architecture merge to create a space that was not only modern for the time, but also, in a sense,
timeless. In stark contrast to the dark woods and furnishings, Between two bookcases, and beyond
pocket doors, was the conservatory. Its half domed shape allowed light to flood in from all angles.
Continuing on, the drawing room was fashioned in the Louis the 16th style with antique furniture
set against painted wall panels. In the center, a chandelier stretched out to support globes,
dangling with crystals below an intricately coffered ceiling.
While appearing in old world grandeur, the house was considerably modern. It had 14
bathroom and 12 water closets in a time when most homes did not even have running water.
Instead of yelling through the house, or using chimes,
speaking tubes were installed to communicate with staff across floors.
Even below the house, a steam radiator was installed to keep the house warm
on even the most frigid of Connecticuts winter nights.
And in the summer, at the top of the house,
giant vents could be opened using a series of pullies to allow heat to escape the attic.
Now that the house was finished, The Lockwoods could enjoy their state of the art estate,
or so they thought. In 1869, on a day known as black Friday, Jay Gould notoriously cornered wall
street. He had devised a scheme to raise the price of metal on the stock market and successfully
knocked his competition into bankruptcy. Unfortunately for the Lockwoods lost nearly
everything in the stock market that day and had to mortgage Elm Park. LeGrand then caught pneumonia
and died suddenly. His widow, Anna was now stuck with a massive mortgage payment and no income.
She scrambled to auction off everything she owned before the banks could seize it.
She managed for a while, including selling much of her art collection to Henry Frick,
but eventually she was overcome by the mortgage repayments. She abandoned the
house and moved in with her son while the bank foreclosed on her.
In 1876, Charles D Mathews purchased the home from the bank for just 90,000 dollars or the
modern day equivalent of about 2 and a half million dollars. He began restoring the home,
including buying back much of the art and furnishings which had been auctioned off
by Mrs Lockwood. He spent years painstakingly putting the house back the way it was, then,
just as he was ready to live in it he suddenly and unexpectedly died.
An odd pattern seemed to appear, no one really got to enjoy the house for long before they
died. Elm Park changed hands several times. As each owner died, it would be passed on to the
next of kin in the Mathews family until Lillie Mathews had no one other than extended family
to leave the house to. She willed Elm Park to a couple of her extended relatives who refused to
live in the home. They leased it to the city which later purchased it in 1941. Norwalk used Elm Park
for offices and a few community events, but by the 1960s it had fallen into disrepair. Permits
were pulled to have the mansion demolished, but thankfully, in 1967, preservationists convinced
the city to transform it into a house museum and it has been open to the public for tours
ever since. Over the years, it has been featured in several films such as Stepford Wives and,
in 2007, Elm Park received 6 million dollars to carry out much needed restoration work.
If you have ever visited, I would love to hear about your experience below.
And while you’re there, make sure to hit that subscribe button. I would also like
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