19th Century Home Alive With History

by Julie Weisberg - June 25, 2001

When asked what best represents a community's character, most folks focus on current residents and location. They talk about the town's affluence, its population, and maybe mention a well-known resident or two.

Usually overlooked is the town's unique history, carefully crafted over the years, in and around the homes in which those residents reside. In fact, each structure -- large or small, ornate or plain, contemporary or antique -- is a small, discrete time capsule representative of the people and the events that have shaped a town.

Willowood Estate, at 367 Newtown Turnpike in Weston, is a perfect example. Although the estate has recently been put up for sale after the death of its owner Marjorie Fischel last year, it still exudes the welcoming warmth and comfort of a family home, while visibly maintaining a sense of its own history.

Marjorie Fischel was the second wife of Alwyn Fischel, a president of the New York Cocoa Exchange and chairman of the A.C. Israel Commodity Co.

Mr. Fischel bought the house in 1941 as a weekend summer home. When Mr. Fischel decided to live in Weston full time, he turned the rural stone and timber antique cottage into his family's permanent home in 1951.

"This was a great house to grow up in," said Cathy Schlossberg, the daughter of Marjorie and Al Fischel, who is supervising the sale of Willowood, her childhood home.

Longtime Weston residents, however, may remember Willowood best as one of the Fairfield County location sites for the 1975 movie "The Stepford Wives." The house was used by British director Bryan Forbes as the setting for a scene involving the film's lead character "Joanna," played by popular actress Katherine Ross (of "The Graduate" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid").

In the scene filmed at Willowood, Ms. Ross's character decides to visit with a psychiatrist, played by Carol Rossen, after noticing strange behavior among the wives of the fictional affluent, suburban town of Stepford. Willowood served as the setting for the psychiatrist's office.

During a recent interview and tour of the historic Weston home, Ms. Schlossberg pointed out the only remaining evidence that a film crew was ever in action at Willowood: a small piece of gray duct tape still sticking to the ceiling in the living room used for the scene's interior shots.

But Willowood's historical significance is more than a forgotten 1970s movie that has been relegated to Saturday afternoon cable television. Like so many other buildings in town. Willowood's past, present and possible future acts in its own leading role within the community's theater, reflecting the town's changing complexion.

"Willowood is a magnificent home with a very interesting history," said the estate's exclusive listing agent Anne King Forland of Coldwell Banker's Westport office.

The original structure is thought to have begun as a two-room farmhouse in the mid- 1800's built by an immigrant Yugoslavian pig farmer. Ms. Schlossberg said that the house still has all of the farmhouse's original beams, front door and root cellar built by the farmer. The root cellar is particularly fascinating, in that it was turned into a unique guest room, which appears to resemble the cabin of a small yacht.

Around the turn of the century, an artist bought Willowood, converting the simple two-room farmhouse into a small cottage.

"The artist added the northern living room (used during the filming) and a sleeping balcony, or loft," said Ms. Schlossberg. She feels that the artist most likely built the addition onto the northern section of the house, because of the excellent lighting it affords. The living room features a stone fireplace and a bay window and window seat, which lifts and serves as a hidden storage space -- an excellent place to stow away during a game of hide and seek.

Then, according to town records, the house changed hands one more time before the Fischel family moved in, when in 1930 William and Jane Gillies purchased the property. Ms. Schlossberg says that she believes that Mr. Gillies may have been an architect/builder, or even perhaps another artist.

After Ms. Schlossberg's father made the decision to make Willowood his family's permanent residence, he built the home's spacious kitchen and terraced gardens, added another bedroom and bathroom, and he converted the enclosed porch into an office.

All in all, Willowood is currently a 2,948 square feet, 10-room residence situated on 6.7 acres overlooking a private pond, stream, meadow, woods and vintage shed. It has four stone fireplaces, four bedrooms and four full baths, not to mention beautiful Dutch doors that open onto the patio and a balcony that runs the length of two bedrooms that overlook the pond.

But for Ms. Schlossberg, Willowood represents more than just bricks and beams. It is still the house she grew up in, and it will forever be intermingled with the fond memories she has of her mother, Marjorie.

"My mom was such a unique lady and the house is so -- her," said Ms. Schlossberg. "This home was her heart."

It has been difficult for Ms. Schlossberg to go through the necessary, motions of selling the home after her mother's death, but ironically, the home has been a comfort to her.

"This house gives me strength. This house is more than (just) a house, it is a home," said Ms. Schlossberg. "Willowood has a heart."

After all, home isn't just where you lay your hat -- home is where the heart is. And if Willowood is alive with history, its heart is still beating.