#stormfield

Stormfield, Mark Twain’s Connecticut estate, for $4.2m

Mihiro Shimano — Boston.com correspondent

July 9, 2021 5:21 pm

“Stormfield,” the former mansion of author Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, hit the market July 3 for $4,200,000. Located in the middle of the woods in Redding, Conn., the estate was Clemens’s final residence. 

The 6,300-square-foot mansion, which mimics a Tuscan villa, has 11 rooms, including four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms, as well as three fireplaces, according to the listing by William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. It also includes a detached carriage house and a guest/caretaker cottage with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. The home’s Tuscan style is a nod to the time Clemens spent in Italy. Highlights of the mansion include marble floors, vaulted ceilings, a library, walk-in closets, hardwood flooring, a heated gunite pool, an expansive stone terrace, and a living room with a handpainted, coffered ceiling.

The property, 30 Mark Twain Lane, sits on 28.53 acres in Fairfield County yet is only roughly 60 miles from Midtown, New York City, according to the listing.

The mansion holds a lot of history, especially for the community. “It’s an important home in Redding, arguably the most important home in Redding,” said the real estate agent for the estate, Laura Freed Ancona. “It feels like you step back in time when you’re there.” 

The home last sold in 2003 for $3,450,000 to the current owner, who listed it in 2014 and 2015 for $4,000,000 before taking it off the market.

Shortly after arriving in Redding in 1906, Clemens purchased 195 acres and began building the home, which was completed in 1908. “Upon surveying the countryside from his new home, Clemens exclaimed: ‘How beautiful it all is. I did not think it could be as beautiful as this,’ ” according to the listing. 

He resided there for only two years before he died in 1910. The author’s final estate was passed down to his daughter, Clara. 

“Stormfield” — allegedly named after his short story “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” as a tribute to the financial contributions it made to its construction — attracted many visitors during the short time Clemens resided there. Many of these visits were documented in guest books.

The home burned down in 1923, but the mansion was rebuilt on the same foundation in 1925, retaining the same Tuscan villa style, according to the listing. To this day, the estate continues to attract many visitors, mostly scholars and academics studying Clemens. “Twainiacs,” Ancona said, will contact the library director, who will make an appointment with the owners to set up an invitation to visit the house. 

See more photos of the property below: