According to Mansfield Four Corners (2003), by Rudy J. Favretti, the house at 1637 Storrs Road in Mansfield was built sometime between 1818 and 1834 by Darius Dexter. It had many owners over the years and was acquired in 1931 by Raymond H. Wallace (1899-1965), professor of plant physiology at UCONN. He and his wife made alterations to the house which included the addition of a sun room.
Dexter-Wallace House (1834)
I am the daughter Dr. Raymond Harold Wallace. Dr. Wallace moved to Storrs, Connecticut in 1929 with his wife Nellie and his first born daughter Dorothy Ann, after receiving his Doctorate from Columbia University. He and Nellie were both college educated Botanists. Nellie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota with a Master’s degree in Botany. Rudy J. Favretti date of the house as written in his book is incorrect. My Father told me he did research at the Mansfield Town Hall and discovered the house he was about to buy was built in 1700. Mr. Selah Palmer lived across the road from the House he was about to purchase. “Stumpy” was a Master carpenter and was out of work in the Great Depression. He and his son Russell worked for many years for Dr. Wallace. Dr. Wallace directed and planned the remodel and the new construction of the structure. The house had no cellar and no plumbing. A single light bulb connected to an electrical wire, was hanging in the rear of the house. Dr. Wallace, my Father told me when I was an adult the house had a, “straight ridge pole,” making reconstruction feasible.
A cellar was dug under the house. An oil burning furnace was installed in that space along with a shop a recreation room and a photographic dark room. An ancient mill stone was embedded in the concrete in front of the fire place in the recreation room. Curved stairs made of stone led from the basement through the Green house to the first floor of the house. Another old mill stone was embedded in the concrete flooring of the Green House at the entrance through French doors, leading into the living room. One would expect that two Botanists might have a Green house added to their home.. It had a slanted roof that led from the down stairs to below the ell windows on the second level. It was a very pleasnat place to be in the cooler months. Seedlings made their way out of the Green house during WWII for planting in Victory gardens. I loved to play there in the winter with the warm sun streaming down of me and has certainly contributed to many Mohs Micro surgeries on my face.
The flooring of the living room was made of wide planks of 10 to 14 inches wide of Hard Rock Maple moved from the attic of the house of the living room. They were gorgeous with the patina of fine furniture. The room had a lovely fire place that was frequently used in the cold months. After the October 21, 1938 hurricane we had no electricity for three weeks and the fire was used to keep us warm. It was used frequently in my years living at the house. Off the South end of the living room, a sun porch was built with all three sides having walls of window to widow of colonial sash found by Dr.Wallace where a house was being razed. A set of stairs was built opposite the front door that to the second story where there were two bedrooms and a full bathroom.
A two story extension of the same length as the front part of the main house was constructed as an ell off of the back of the main structure. It had stone masonry covering the outside of the structure to where the second story began and was built by a Mr. Costello. It is as beautiful today as it was in the 1929 era. An exterior door on the west wall entered into the house to access the second story. This provided a private entrance when part of the upstairs of the house was rented out. On the second level in the ell was a large room with a peaked ceiling of large beams. There were windows on three sides of the room. A fireplace with book cases was on each side. The wall above the book cases was faced with Bolton Stone from Bolton Notch near Manchester. It glittered with the mica the stone contained. This same Bolton stone was use in the construction of part of the Catholic Church in Eagleville when Father Kelley was in touch with Raymond Wallace.
The ground floor of the ell had an annex with book cases floor to ceiling. . A window looked out into the Green house. One wall had a large National Geographic map hung on it. Dr. Raymond Wallace plotted the advance of the Allies on the map in WWII. He used microscopic slide wax pens to mark the Nazi and the Allies routes. That map stayed there for along time
A pocket door led into the kitchen that was an L shaped room . There was a small bedroom and a bath with a sunken shower. A window on the South wall looked into the Green house. Raymond built a solid Oak table and benches with the help of Mr. Lindall Crandall on Rte 44 next to Sepratist’s road taught Dr. Wallace woodworking. He had been a shop teacher at Connecitcut Agricultural College. Dad also built one dining table of solid walnut, a library table and a break front cabinet.
Dad hired university students to dig a water way through the woods behind our property, making the ground firm for most of it. We children played in the brook, for many happy hours.
Selah Palmer also built a log cabin behind our house. It was always rented out to College Professors. It is still cozy inside with the unfinished logs on the interior. The calking of newspaper and tar was used to seal in between the logs. We were inside again about 3 years ago. A young student renting in my childhood home showed us the downstairs. The house is in bad shape. Very sad to see. Wet mops were being used on the fine hard Rock Maple flooring.
Mary W. Bushnell , I have lived in California since 1958 with my husband of 63 years, Jim Bushnell who was my next door neighbor at Mansfield Four Corners /Storrs. His house in the second house from the corner of Storrs road and Rte 44 and looks the samea.
I have photographs of exterior my childhood home I can send by e-mail to anyone interested. It looks nothing like it did in 1958
My house had such low ceilings that I could reach them easily at my height of 5’6″. The later houses of
EO Smith and the Brundages on Rt 44 at Mansfield Four Corners have high ceilings I could not begin to reach.