Homes for Veterans

Westport and Weston, CT?

c. 1945-47 | Speculative Residences | Status undetermined

In remarks tied to the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the New Century Club of Philadelphia (in 1947), Minerva said that she “had recently been designing homes for veterans.” Also reported on was the fact that Minerva had remained active as an architect well into her 80s (a fact that several family memoirs corroborate). Her clients in this period were likely limited to her daughter Adelaide and son-in-law John “Jack” Baker.

 The couple had begun to actively develop former farms, with an eye towards the returning veterans of World War II. They began with a parcel at their Westport property, now known as 3 Guard Hill Road. That house, built just after the war using timbers salvaged from an old barn, was maintained as a rental property for several decades.

 The Bakers were also developing land in the nearby town of Weston, with a focus on the 30-acre former estate of Francis B. Coley, which they purchased in July 1945. The project involved renovations to the existing farmhouse and barn structures located at 28 Good Hill Road in Weston. By 1956 (seven years after Nichols’ death), the larger parcel had been subdivided into ten properties and a new lane platted and named Hidden Hill Road. Numbers 4 and 13 Hidden Hill Road were extant by 1956.

It remains unclear what the extent of Minerva’s design work was at these sites, or if there were other areas that her son-in-law and daughter sought her input on during this period of time.

— Researched and written by Bill Whitaker