31 Chichester Road

The Beaven W. Mills House at 31 Chichester Road was built in 1956 to a design by William Francis Pedersen. On its wooded, sloping acre, the house combines a flat roof and vertical wood siding with broad areas of glass. High ceilings and a two-sided fireplace distinguish the living and dining spaces, while the hillside allows a walk-out lower level. A freestanding screened room stands separately in the landscape.

Pedersen was a Stamford native and New Canaan resident whose practice concentrated on commercial and institutional buildings. The Mills House represents the smaller residential side of his work, alongside the later Isaac Davis and Marion Dalton Hall House in New Canaan. The property was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 as part of Connecticut’s recognition of mid-twentieth-century modern residences.

Research note: The 2010 National Register nomination for the Hall House dates the Beaven Mills House to 1956 and attributes it to William F. Pedersen. The state survey labeled Mills House 1 carries a 1939 date, but USModernist associates that name and date with a different property at 650 Frogtown Road. The relationship of that survey entry to 31 Chichester Road remains unresolved. USModernist dates the separate carport to 1960, while the available state extract gives approximately 1957. The individual Mills House nomination and underlying survey pages could not be retrieved during this research. The reported state and local designation flags were not independently confirmed.