Fairfield -- Burrwood House

Whitehead Estate, formerly known as.

Burrwood House is a historically significant house and gardens that has been owned by three generations of families since it was built in 1812. It evolved as a working farm under the Burr family, to a gentleman's farm with exquisite gardens in the 1940s with the Whitehead family (with gardens designed by the Ortloff and Raymore), to a genteel country home and gardens after being rescued from demolition by the current family.

When purchased by the current owners in 1997 the Greek revival farmhouse built in 1812 and twentieth century additions, outbuildings, and formal gardens installed by subsequent owners were in a dilapidated state, and development plans for the entire 15-acre property were in dispute. The house and original barn were granted historic status by the state but not legal protection. However when they bought the house and 2.3 acres the owners and developer agreed to save the house and not change its footprint, keep 3,500 feet of existing stone walls, protect 20 mature specimen trees, and preserve significant open space for wildlife. The owners, English ex-pats from the Cotswold region, determined they would blend the trees with understated English perennial gardens with unstructured borders, swathes of perennials beds in pastel colors, and hardscape salvaged from other parts of the estate before it was developed. Work has been ongoing for twenty years, first critical repairs and restoration, then new projects as dictated by nature. Trees that were damaged by storms or diseased, grown too big for their location or too close to the house were removed. Overgrown rhododendron and azalea foundation plantings in front of the house were replaced with more formal boxwood and hollies. Many trees were planted for privacy along the new property lines, including ironwood, laurel, and pine. Dry stone walls softened with climbing hydrangea, post and rail fences and deer fencing were installed.

A red barn for cows built in the 1950's was rebuilt as a garage for classic English cars with two bays around a central dog trot that leads to a raised bed vegetable garden. Rhododendron surrounding rear terraces were replaced with boxwood hedges and perennial beds. A bluestone paved island bed with a statue was built on the site of a defunct pond, and is encircled by more boxwood and flowering perennials. An unsightly greenhouse was replaced with a metal roofed summerhouse used for entertaining, a dense bank of rhododendron was removed and replaced with a patio and perennial bed planted with hyssop and ferns, and an arbor overweighted by wisteria was removed. Gravel with cobblestone edging was laid for the driveway, and gravel walkways were put down in the vegetable garden and leading to the wildlife preserve.

Persons associated with the garden include Lewis and Maritta Burr (former owner, 1812-1867); Burr family members (former owners, 1867-1946); Mather and Elizabeth Whitehead (former owners, 1946-1997); Henry Stuart Ortloff (1896-1967) and Henry Bond Raymore (1895-1984) (landscape architects, 1947); Charles Cameron Clark (1887-1957) (architect, 1947); Paolo Vicente (architect house and outbuilding, 2004 and 2008).