SAMUEL FERRIS HOUSE

The Samuel Ferris House is a small Colonial Cape-style building (24’6” x 35’) located at the corner of Cary Road and East Putnam Avenue (also known as the Boston Post Road (“Post Road”)). It was originally the farmhouse for a farm of approximately 30 acres on the east bank of the Mianus River at the head of Cos Cob harbor. This area of Greenwich, formerly known as “the Landing”, is now called Riverside. Today, the house on its .248 lot, is partially bordered on the level ground to the north and east by a 1948-1950 housing development built for veterans after World War II and to the west and south by public roads.

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Architectural Significance

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The Samuel Ferris House is significant as a modest but typical Colonial house form, a rare survival of its type on the Post Road in Greenwich (one of only four remaining on the road!) and is the oldest house in Riverside. The present one and one-half story configuration is a result of a later remodeling. The original building was a two-room end-chimney house; the west bay was added about 1800. The east end is noticeably older, with marked differences from the west end in its construction. The original two-room is a reminder of “building-to-expand” rather than present-day “demolish-to-expand”. The house doubled in size when rooms were added on the opposite side of the chimney to create a center-chimney structure.