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The home at 63 Park St. in New Canaan, was originally built in 1836 and has since served many purposes, including a private residence, a boarding house, architectural firm and now a historical foundation center.
Carlos Marques / Contributed photo
NEW CANAAN — F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway are well known for their classics, "The Great Gatsby" and "The Old Man and the Sea." Something not as well known is that they shared an editor, Maxwell Perkins, who once owned 63 Park St. in New Canaan .
Perkins was senior editor for the publishing company, Charles Scribner & Sons, according to the listing agent, Inger Stringfellow. Perkins, his wife and five daughters, bought the home in 1924, which remained in the family until 1965.
The home, originally built in 1836, has served many purposes over its 187 years. Prior to the Perkins family, the property was home to the New Canaan Country School from 1919 to 1924. In addition to being a private residence and school, it was also a boarding house, architectural firm and now a historical foundation center. It also served as the first home to New York to New Canaan commuters in the early 1900s, according to Stringfellow.
Nestled on the corner of Park and Seminary Street, the home still maintains the look of an old schoolhouse and prestige with its white exterior, columns and large windows.
The house is in a prime location as it is around the corner from a popular restaurant and shopping area in New Canaan, Stringfellow said. More conveniently, the home is located a two-minute drive from the New Canaan station or “88 steps to the railway station,” per Maxwell Perkins’ account.
The house is described as a Greek Revival House, which is supposed to emulate a Greek temple, according to oldhouseweb.com . Greek Revival homes tend to have a symmetrical look with columns, low roof lines and often front porches, the website adds.
“The house has been beautifully restored and maintained while keeping the original architectural details and integrity intact. The location, prominence and provenance make it so desirable,” Stringfellow said in an email.
The home is currently listed as having three bedrooms, three bathrooms and over 5,700 square feet of living space, according to the William Pitt Sotheby’s listing. However, the home has not housed a single family residence in many years, according to Stringfellow. The current owners are preservationists and used 63 Park St. as an exhibition space.
Stringfellow believes that the home has a lot of potential for a new buyer. For a single family residence, necessary reconfiguration would include adding bathrooms and building the kitchen on the main floor. She also says that it could serve as office space for a small, non-retail business.
The property at 63 Park St in New Canaan is listed by Inger Stringfellow at William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, which can be reached at 203-321-9376.
