David K. Sturges and Ellen R. Sturges' "Restmore" Estate

This home, located in the Southport neighborhood of Fairfield, CT belongs to David K. Sturges and Ellen R. Sturges.

The home was built between 1910 and 1912 as a summer residence for the ultra-rich entrepreneur Dr. Ira DeVer Warner, who, with his brother, Lucien, developed women's corsets and lingerie. Among the contributions of Warner Bros., their joint company, headquartered in Bridgeport: corsets with attached hose supporters, cloth garments with elastic instead of lacing, and the alphabetically cup-sized brassiere. Warner, who was close friends with John D. Rockefeller, was a fervent proponent of healthy living. He never smoked or drank in his life. He also generally went to bed early and encouraged others to get maximum sleep. This inspired the estate's name: "Restmore." The estate was designed as a dairy farm, but its first herd of 120 cows was wiped out in its first year of operation. A year later, Warner died of a heart-attack. His widow, Eva Follett Warner, moved into the home full-time with her son, Ira, and lived there until she died in 1941. Then Ira Warner formed the Dartis Corporation and subdivided the estate. Later in the decade, Fuller and Muriel Leeds, Ellen's parents, purchased the home. The last strand of history to account for was in the home's unique architecture. The first clue came from the Charles Gray family, former neighbors of the Sturges', who, upon moving away from the area years ago, found a surviving set of building specifications in their own basement. Charles' grandfather had worked on the estate and retained important paperwork. The information indicated that the architect of Restmore was Ehrick K. Rossiter, who had long lived in Washington, Conn.

The house, is an almost 5,300-square-foot building with 11 rooms, perched atop Mill Hill. It offers sweeping views to the east of Long Island Sound and of the shore as it snakes its way from Fairfield through Bridgeport and beyond. The property occupies 5.5 acres of land, which is 194.5 fewer acres than it did when construction finished in 1912. The current appraised value of the home is $2,581,200, according to public property records.