A sprawling 1700s tobacco farm is listed for $9.5 million after a major makeover — but it’s not what was first planned.
Rather than being totally redone, today Hedgelawn Farm retains much of its original character. That’s thanks in part to the late Pritzker-winning architect Zaha Hadid.
Designer and developer Kevin Comer bought the estate, at 191 Roxbury Road in Connecticut’s scenic Litchfield County, for $2.8 million in 2007 with his husband Rick Distel, a listing agent with Compass. It was intended to be their weekend retreat from the bustle of the city, but the couple has since focused more on their work on the West Coast and decided to sell.
The hubby-and-hubby duo moved onto the farm in 2011 and planned to observe their surroundings before Comer got to work on it.
Around that time, he lamented the effort it would take to relocate the farm’s buildings to the legendary architect, who died in 2016. Hadid participated in a charrette hosted by his former firm, Beck Street Capital, at 100 Vandam St. in Hudson Square.
She interrupted, telling Comer to respect the history of the land and trust that buildings are where they are for a reason.
Sure enough, they came to see the intentionality behind the placement of each structure, just like Hadid said. A seasonal wetland appeared behind the six-stall barn horse barn they planned to move, for example — and the wind that blew through the former tobacco barn likely, once upon a time, helped dry plant leaves.
“You’re crazy if you think you can do a better job siting a building that’s been there for 240 years,” Comer, who now owns the design-build company City and Field, recalled Hadid saying.
He got to work in 2015 and spent the next seven years taking buildings apart and putting them back in their original spots, retaining their historic post and beam frameworks. Renovations wrapped up in 2022 and Distel put the listing, first covered by the Hartford Courant and the Real Deal, on the market this summer.
In the 1970s, the farm was owned by the late American diplomat Thomas Whitney, who used the property as an art studio and a home for his racehorses. It has nine structures in total, three of which are residences.
Comer and Distel currently reside in the Guest House. First constructed in 1762, it was once a one-and-a-half-story home with an open room centered around a large fireplace and a small sleeping loft overhead. It’s now a two-bed, 2.5-bath home spanning 2,800 square feet.
It’s sleek and modern while retaining the 270-year-old weathered granite hearthstone. In a nod to design in the High Desert of California, where the couple spends much of their time these days, there’s a glass passageway connecting two sections of the home.
“Take a glass penthouse from Manhattan and drop it in the countryside,” Distel said of the Guest House.
Up on the highest point of the property, visible from overlooks in popular hiking spots, is the former 1865 tobacco barn. Now the Barn House, it’s transformed into a 4,500-square-foot three-bed space sporting a Francesco Librizzi Studio staircase, which the Italian designer escorted from Milan to oversee its installation.
It’s outfitted with a full floor for wellness, including a hydrotherapy tub, along with a five-car garage and an in-ground swimming pool.
Nearby is The Cottage, a 500-square-foot one-bath studio first built in 1840.
The houses are surrounded by 28 acres of lush greenery, which include a certified organic fruit farm and an orchard.
Set in the town of Washington, they gaze over the Shepaug River Valley in Washington. The county this property stands in is home to stars like Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon and Seth Meyers.
Though it boasts 7,800 total square feet of living space, it’s divided among three homes, making the property an improper fit for a buyer looking to house a large household under one roof, Distel notes.
It’s perhaps best suited for those looking to entertain or keep a certain in-law at an arm’s distance. Hedgelawn Farm offers a tranquil lifestyle similar to rural pockets of the Hamptons, he added.
Plus, it doesn’t have a tennis court. “But it’s got a ton of land for one,” Comer said.