12/23/2023
A brief history of Westwind in Lewisboro
Lewisboro History Travelers on Smith Ridge Road pass by the impressive mansion known for many years as the home of the Jewish Family Congregation, but before that it was the popular French restaurant, René Chardain. And before that the property was known as West Wind and was owned by Annie M. Bell, purported to be a daughter of Alexander Graham Bell. In researching the property in response to a recent town historian email, I discovered the West Wind back story. Built about 1900, supposedly designed by the Stanford White firm, I have not determined the original owners yet, but Annie Megrue Bell, although not related at all to the Alexander Graham Bell family, was a very interesting lady in her own right. By all accounts she was a beautiful and refined lady. Annie probably bought West Wind as a summer home sometime after her second husband’s death in 1929 for $65,000, which included elegant its furnishings. Louis Valentine Bell was a wealthy financier and his estate added to Annie’s family estate made her a wealthy woman. Her first marriage in 1890 to a Kentucky horseman, John Madden, ended in a nasty divorce. The Madden breeding farm, Hamburg Place, was the home of several Kentucky Derby winners (1914, 1920, 1925) and was the largest breeding farm in Kentucky. Annie M. Bell, known to family as “Aunt Puss”, “lived graciously, in dignity and pleasantly, and loved to travel” according to an article written by a cousin. She died at the age of 92 in 1963. After Annie’s death the property was sold to Highview Developers, Inc. a company possibly belonging to Jeanne Matusow who lived in the house for several years. Today the property is owned by the Sapientia Association, a Catholic non-profit organization whose mission is to teach children and adults the tenets of the Catholic faith as it existed prior to Vatican II.
Originally Published in the Record Review 1-6-23 in Maureen Koehl's Lewisboro Talk Column
Photo credit: Maureen Koehl, Jan 2023
