Rosa Poli dressed in the finest ermine. She lived in the Villa Rosa that was named for her. Photo courtesy of Walter Sheahan.
Who hasn’t, when going by the Villa Rosa in Woodmont, stood up a little taller to peak at anything that can be seen of the fantastic Poli mansion? Or lingered by the main gate for the briefest glimpse of how the enormously rich once lived?
Who knows how many bright lights of the theater world visited there with Sylvester Zefferino Poli, the theater magnate who in 1916 at the height of his business life owned 30 theaters in various parts of the Northeast?
The Villa Rosa mansion on Abigail Street was a summer home he built and named for his wife, Rosa. Then he built 10 more “cottages” next to the mansion, along an area referred to as the Villa Rosa Terrace, for his children and other relatives.
Most people know Sylvester’s story, but little has been written about Rosa.
Rosa Leverone was born in Genoa, Italy and came to America with her family when she was 10. Sylvester came to America in 1881. Years later, Sylvester and Rosa were introduced at a party in New York given by mutual friends. Rosa had been quoted as saying “It was love at first sight.”
They were married three months later. Sylvester was 27 and his bride was 16. That was the start of a lifelong journey where they worked together to build a multimillion-dollar theater empire.
Sylvester’s story started when as a boy in Italy he liked to sketch and modeled figures, eventually becoming an apprentice to a sculpture artist in Paris. He mastered the art of wax sculpting and moved on to help setting up dime museums with eccentric curios and wax tableaux of royalty, actors, historic scenes or infamous criminals. The dime admission price was set so that most people could afford to go. Meanwhile, he listened in on conversations and learned about the business of museums.
In the beginning, Sylvester made wax sculptures and invited the public in to wherever he found a place to display them. Rosa worked along with him. She had learned the intricate process of needling hairs on the heads of wax figures and adding beards to some.
This was about the time the couple’s first child, Adelina, was born in 1889. A second child, Edward Joseph, was born in 1891.
Looking for a location to begin his business, Sylvester set his sights on New Haven and moved the family there. He rented the second floor in what was then the Hoadley Building at Church and Crown streets for a wax museum. It was so successful that he rented another floor and built a small stage for vaudeville shows.
Eventually, he built his own theater where he could stage “high class vaudeville” shows. He and Rosa cleaned and moved all the curios and wax figures to the new quarters. Out went the bawdy acts and in came clean vaudeville shows that could be enjoyed by the whole family, “especially the ladies.”
This was his key to amassing a fortune. He found that the public would pay a dime for wholesome entertainment. That was just the beginning for him.
It was said of Sylvester that he never let grass grow under his feet unless he owned it.
Along the way he produced vaudeville shows and variety shows. He booked performers and sent them out on road shows. He always kept up with the times and built ornate movie “palaces” that he was regularly renovating – more stained glass, more marble statuary, more columns. In the summer of 1894, he closed his Wonderland Theater in New Haven just to have 300 seats added.
Another child, Juliette, was born in 1897, followed by Laurina in 1889. By this time Rosa had already decided to devote her time to caring for their son and three daughters. And then there was one more addition to the family. In 1903 a fourth daughter, Lillian – Lily – was born.
Rosa had a growing family, a loving husband and a beautiful home where she lived in luxury. Tragedy, however, finds every family. Edward, the only son, died at age 22 after an appendectomy caused an embolism. Both parents were grief stricken. It had been planned that when Edward turned 23 he would take over the business, but that was never to be.
When the US entered World War I in 1917, Rosa took on the task of organizing the Poli theaters to sell liberty bonds and do benefit performances. She was tireless in raising funds for hospitals.
Rosa’s great grandson, Walter Poli Sheahan, Jr., who is the last blood relative living on the property today in one of the cottages, was 7 when Rosa died. But he recalls that when he visited “the big house, I always had to be announced.”
He remembers that “she lived lavishly but was always frugal,” although “she was big on charities.” She supported many philanthropic causes, especially the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
For all Rosa’s charitable works for the disabled and the homeless, Queen Elena of Italy awarded her the Italian Cross of Honor, complete with a tiara and ceremonial ribbon. After that, Sheahan said, “she wore her tiara all the time.”
Sylvester spent his final years at the Villa Rosa and died of pneumonia in 1937 at the age of 79.
In the years after his death, Rosa spent winters with her daughter, Juliette, and granddaughter Patsy, on Forest Road in New Haven. In those days, the summer residents left the shoreline at the end of the season, and Rosa’s family did not want her to spend winters alone.
Patsy, now in her 90s, said “Grammy Poli was warm, very giving, understanding and thoughtful,” adding, “she was beautiful and very, very bright. I loved her.”
“She did a lot for the disabled. She had wonderful parties out on the landing for vets and their families,” Patsy recalled.
Of the winter visits, Patsy said, “I was very close to Grammy Poli. We had dinner in our dining room every night, and we let Grammy sit at the head of the table.”
Patsy also remembered that Rosa Poli always said, “You can marry more money in a minute than you can earn in a lifetime.”
“After Grampy died,” Patsy said, “Rosa gave every grandchild two houses” along the terrace.
Rosa lived on another 23 years and died in 1960 shortly before she turned 92.
After that, there were years when the mansion was empty or sometimes rented, but slowly it fell into disrepair. At one time the Poli heirs considered selling the entire estate for use as a school, sanitarium or religious order. Today, however, the mansion and all the cottages along the terrace are privately owned.
Marilyn May is a lifelong resident of Milford and a member of the board of the Milford Historical Society.