Page 11 - North Haven Magazine Issue 11 Holiday 2019

by Marisa Hexter

When you think of holidays as a child, what do you remember?
What toys did you get as gifts? Train sets? Reflector telescopes?
Science kits? Maybe you even remember an Erector set? Well,
Santa’s workshop was not located at the North Pole as we thought,
but instead in Westville, Connecticut thanks to the A.C. Gilbert
Company!

lfred Carlton Gilbert created a toy empire that lasted over
50 years from 1909 to 1967. When he established his com-
Apany, Gilbert did not expect to sell millions of toys every
year by the 1950s. With his business established in New Haven,
A.C. wanted to be close by, as he was well-known for being deeply
involved in his company throughout his life. He didn’t search for
long before he found himself the ideal place to live, Ridge Road in
North Haven. He bought the 35-50 acres of property in 1921 and
built a Tudor home to his perfection, naming in “Maraldene”. The
name comes from the first syllable of his wife’s name, Mary and his
name, Alfred; along with the Old English suffix “dene”, meaning
“house on the hill”.

Maraldene was built to perfection. On the outside, a stone wall
and large evergreens could be seen from the road with the grey
pillars being the only structure dictating a home was behind there. Photo Credit : “A.C. Gilbert’s Heritage” by Donald J. Heimburger
Laurel, Connecticut’s state flower could be seen everywhere as
well. Gilbert wanted a luxurious home, but he also wanted it to For thirty years, Gilbert and his family (Mary and his three chil-
be practical and comfortable, a sharp contrast to the new ideas of dren, Alfred Carlton, Charlotte, and Lucinda) lived at Maraldene.
style in the 1920s. Some features in the house consisted of a library, He was able to raise his family in comfort. A.C. Gilbert states in his
playroom, servant quarters, and terrace. Chandeliers were frequent book, The Man Who Lives in Paradise, that he remembers many
throughout the house. While most of the house was designed in a wonderful nights reading to his children after work. He also once
traditional fashion (with furniture said to belong to Oliver Crom- hired a parachuter for a Christmas party to play Santa Claus who
well), Gilbert did bring some modern inventions into Maraldene. then jumped out of the plane and delivered gifts.
His most famous designs were in the bathroom, like a weighing
scale inserted into the floor and heated towel racks. In the back- Eventually, having so many acres of land was unnecessary for
yard, Gilbert also had a golf course and a man-made waterfall. Gilbert, especially when his children were grown up, so A.C. began
to sell off small plots of land to build homes. The style of these
houses were in the Tudor fashion, a trend which took off in the
1920s and 1930s thanks to Gilbert’s choices when building Marald-
ene. Later, Gilbert bought the land across the street from a peach
farm which had long been abandoned. After buying all the land,
Gilbert started to build house after house, and added new roads as
well. Gilbert got the construction bug and started the Old Orchard
Road development where the peach farm was originally. A.C. was
not in it for the money; he just truly enjoyed building and design-
ing homes and selling the lots at reasonable prices just so he could
keep his projects going. In the end, A.C. Gilbert built over 150
houses, one of them being for his own daughter.

Gilbert recalled his time in North Haven as simply “wonder-
ful”. He loved to see people feel at home in the houses he built and
the community of the area he developed. He wanted nothing more
Photo Credit : “A.C. Gilbert’s Heritage” by Donald J. Heimburger than children and families to feel and be safe, “with good places to
play, and surrounded by natural beauty”. He took pride in his work
and Maraldene even after he eventually moved away from North
In his autobiography, A.C. Gilbert states he was involved in ev- Haven, knowing the beauty he helped create would last long after
ery step of the process to make his house a proper home. He found he left. A.C. Gilbert was Santa for many young boys and girls in the
the Elizabethan era to be “bright and happy”, and wanted a house early and mid 20th century, but he was also a man with a passion
to match. In his many trips to London, Gilbert and his wife found to show North Haven’s beauty and make it his home. I think we can
many pieces of furniture perfect for their home. But where did they all agree with Gilbert when he wrote that North Haven was, “one of
get them from? They bought items from historical homes and mu- the best residential neighborhoods in the country”.
seums where the owners were also dealers!

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