Belden House & Mews
Litchfield, CT | 27,740 SF | 2025
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The Belden House was built in 1888 on North Street in Litchfield, Connecticut. Realized in the Queen Anne style, the house is characterized by round turrets, hexagonal bays, ornate windows and an octagonal plan, all of which distinguish it from its taut and more severe 18th century colonial style neighbors. Over the course of the twentieth century it was expanded numerous times, first with a colonial style extension on its rear and later, after being adapted into a nursing home, with a second rear house extension and stand alone modernist annex building which was constructed in the rear lot of the three-acre estate. This annex building later received its own extension when a prefabricated metal wing was attached to its north. With its incremental expansions, the Belden House exhibits a wide sweep of tendencies, from the local stylistic to the general technological, which came and went over the course of the twentieth century.
The house became abandoned in 2019 when the nursing facility closed and in 2022 it was acquired by Dutchfield who tasked PBDW and the design team to adapt the Belden House into a boutique hotel and public amenity.
The main house was carefully abated, with historic detailing, joinery, plasterwork, and friezes preserved throughout. Historic windows were restored, and all non-historic windows, typically vinyl, were replaced with new high-performing wood windows. Uncovered pocket doors were made functional, and unique historic butler pantries were restored and integrated into the hotel design. The grand staircase in the main entry hall had long been bisected at the second level by a fire partition, and the team worked with local officials to devise a compliant, fire-separating layout to uncover the full stair along its totality. At the base a makeshift handrail was replaced by extending the main balustrade, with the original design adapted to meet ADA standards. This stair was also extended to grant access to the previously unfinished attic, which was insulated and, with the addition of rear-lot facing dormers, converted into an expansive guest suite. These efforts were recognized by SHPO, Connecticut.
Major structural deficiencies were uncovered and rectified in both buildings. The wood framing of the Belden House was surgically reinforced throughout, particularly at the intersection between the original house and its extension. Here the building was insufficiently supported and had been propped up with shoring. A collapsing sunroom on the south was reconstructed, with historic detailing carefully surveyed and recreated. The whole front porch was stabilized and restored and non-historic screening was removed to return it back to its original state.
The Belden House brings back to life a valuable and highly unique historic site in Litchfield. With a restaurant, bar, wellness center and lawn club, it is also one of the few historic houses in the town open to the public. However, its meaning to the community is also rooted in the memories of the many whose parents and grandparents once resided in the nursing facility. Several of the builders and first visitors to the project had known the Belden House in its earlier iteration and were happy to see the house enter a new chapter.
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Design Architect: PBDW Architects (Anne Holford-Smith, Tory Cuddy, Taylor Williams)
Hotel Group: Dutchfield
Interior Designer: Champalimaud Design
Lighting Design: Charlie Dumais
Landscape: Reed Hilderbrand
Civil Engineer: Ron Wolff
Consulting Architect: John Kinnear
Structural: Murray Engineering
MEP: Kohler Ronan
Construction: Burlington Construction Company
Subcontractors and Artisans:
Ian Ingersoll
Dumais Made
Wallpaper, Grasscloth, and Textile: Twenty2
All Drapery: Lakeville Interiors
Bantam Tile Works
All Millwork, Casework and Finish Carpentry: Whitedog Woodworking
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AHEAD Award for Best Hotel Conversion, 2025
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Belden House & Mew, Condé Nast Traveler Review, August 19, 2025
The Best Room At… Belden House & Mews, Town & Country, August 27, 2025
Welcome to Ltichfield Hills, the smart set’s anti-Hamptons, Financial Times HTSI, April 3, 2025
Connecticut Magazine’s Top New Restaurants, Connecticut Magazine, February 20, 2026
America’s Coziest Small Towns for a Winter Weekend Getaway, Travel + Leisure, February 6, 2026
Connecticut Magazine’s Top New Restaurants for 2026, Connecticut Magazine, February 3, 2026
The 10 Most Remarkable U.S. Hotel Openings of 2025, OBSERVER, December 29, 2025
19 Design-Forward Hotels, House Beautiful, December 9, 2025
WELL DONE! Deliciously Different Cooking at Belden House, EATS Section, LITCHFIELD Magazine, November 3, 2025
Weekenders North, Quest Magazine, October 24, 2025
MICHELIN Key 2025, October 10, 2025
Victorian Architecture Meets Mid-Century Modernism at This Tranquil Litchfield, Connecticut Hotel, VOGUE, October 9, 2025
Dujour, October 8, 2025
Fall Forward, Travel + Leisure, October 1, 2025
6 New Getaways Where You Can Delight in Autumn’s Charm, The New York Times, September 26, 2025
This Fall, Litchfield is in the Limelight, The Boston Globe, September 23, 2025
This is the In-the-Know Alternative to the Hamptons, The Times UK, September 17, 2025
Behind the Design: Belden House & Mews, Hospitality Design, August 28, 2025
Indagare Magazine, August 11, 2025
52 Places to Travel in hte U.S. This Year, AFAR Magazine, July 14, 2025
Reimagining a Historic Residence, Lodging Magazine, June 26, 2025
Artful Escapes, Galerie Magazine, May 22, 2025
Litchfield County, Connecticut: A Sophisticated, Bucolic Escape Just Two Hours North of Manhattan, Smart Luxury, May 15, 2025
Reflecting The Unique Heritage of a Historic Landmark, Litchfield Magazine, May 14, 2025
My Connecticut, Cabana Magazine, April 18, 2025
2025’s Best New Weekend Getaway, Modern Luxury Manhattan, April 16, 2025
Belden House Brings a Bathhouse, Butlers & More to Litchfield, WWD Eye, March 31, 2025
The T List, The New York Times, T Magazine, March 17, 2025
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