A stately house built in the 1930s in Darien, Connecticut, received a dramatic overhaul from its current owner, business and sports owner Todd Boehly, who more than doubled its size and built an athletics fieldhouse almost as large in the far reaches of the house’s back yard.
The fieldhouse and the way the expanded Georgian-style main house blends older and contemporary touches are among the property’s key elements, according to Ashley Dineen, the Compass agent listing the property at 865 Hollow Tree Ridge Road for $19 million.
Todd Boehly is an investor who is controlling owner of England's Chelsea soccer team and a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball franchise. He and his family bought the 9.5 acres in 2005 from Louise Brooks, who has an architectural practice in a nearby town. She herself had purchased the property with the intent of working with a buyer to renovate it. When the work was done, the main house had grown from 4,695 square feet to more than 10,000.
“One of the wonderful things Louise does is to incorporate modern touches with the way we live today, but keep the integrity and aesthetics" of the original structure, said Dineen.
She highlighted a porte-cochere, an entrance large enough for cars to pass through it, that Brooks designed adjacent to the main house. The architect also had a door installed next to a fireplace in the addition so wood can be delivered from the driveway into a closet that is accessible from inside. Another element Dineen noted is an artistic detail Brooks observed in the window transoms in the main house; she included the same detail above the windows in several rooms in the addition.
The house’s basement has several attractions, including a movie theater, billiards room and sauna. A large swimming pool near the house was there in 1937, but Brooks added a deck and pool house with changing rooms, a shower and a kitchen.
The 8,711-square-foot fieldhouse developed out of Boehly’s desire to build an indoor batting cage for his children. Then he realized the cage was the same length as a bowling alley, so he added one of those. Later came squash and basketball courts and a large space for entertaining guests. Upstairs, there’s a kitchen and laundry area, and a 10-bed bunkroom for guests to rest. Just outside is a patio with a built-in grill and fire pit.
The property also includes a guest cottage with its own driveway, as does the fieldhouse, allowing people to come and go from those parts of the property without disturbing anyone in the main house.
“If you’re having a trainer come meet you, you can feel like you’ve gone to the gym and worked out, and the trainer can drive in and out and never bother you at home,” said Dineen.
At its current listing price, a monthly mortgage payment on the house after a 20% down payment would come out to about $108,000 per month, Homes.com data shows.
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Dineen said whoever buys the property will probably be someone who likes having a lot of privacy, and who appreciates both contemporary and classic design.
“And definitely someone who’s interested in health and wellness,” she added.