Waveny
Photo: Karl Thomas Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Waveny

Waveny is a district in New Canaan, Connecticut, listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 30, 2019.

Plan your visit

Access
Access information not verified
Last checked October 31, 2026
Location
New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut

National Register listing does not mean a place is open to the public. Parking and accessibility are shown only when verified.

History

Waveny Park (also known as Waveny House) is a park in New Canaan, Connecticut. The park's centerpiece is "the castle" built in 1912 and surrounded by 300 acres (1.2 km2) of fields, ponds and trails. The architect for the structure was William Tubby. Landscape design for the original residence was by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

The house was used for exterior shots for the fictional 'Cortlandt Manor' on the soap opera All My Children for many years; exteriors of the estate were also used in the 2004 remake film The Stepford Wives.

The park is bordered by Farm Road to the North, the Merritt Parkway to the South, South Avenue to the East, and the Metro-North Railroad right-of-way and Old Stamford Road to the West. Over the years, numerous additional town structures have been built on parts of the property including New Canaan High School, Waveny LifeCare Network, an aquatic center, two public water supply towers, as well as paddle tennis courts. To be able to use some of these facilities, a nominal annual fee is charged. The Parks recreations are enjoyed by many people from all around Fairfield County.

Lewis Lapham, one of the founders of Texaco and the man who built Waveny House, spent summers there with his family for many years. The Lapham family gave the Town of New Canaan most of the estate land in 1967 and sold Waveny House and its surrounding 300 acres (1.2 km2) to the Town for $1,500,000.

George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, the eldest paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, married his second wife, Patricia Tuchman on July 32, 1967 at Waveny Park.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.

Other listings in New Canaan

  • Breuer, Marcel, House II Building · listed 2010
  • Johnson, Philip, Glass House District · listed 1997
  • Perkins, Maxwell E., House Building · listed 2004
  • Chichester Road Historic District District · listed 2026
  • Chivvis, Arthur and Lyn, House Building · listed 2010
  • Comstock, Abijah, House Building · listed 2017
  • Davenport, Hanford, House Building · listed 1989
  • Durisol House Building · listed 2010
  • Ford, Elinor and Sherman, House Building · listed 2010
  • Gores, Landis, House Building · listed 2002
  • Hall, Isaac Davis and Marion Dalton, House Building · listed 2010
  • Hampton Inn Building · listed 2004
  • Hodgson, Richard and Geraldine, House Building · listed 2005
  • Hoyt-Burwell-Morse House Building · listed 2017
  • Lee, John Black, House I Building · listed 2010

See all 26 listings in New Canaan →

Nearby historic places

Sources