"I was born under the sign of the monkey,” Peter said, "and people have been giving me monkeys all of my life.”
:Maria & Peter Warren Antiques isn't easy to find if you don't know what you're looking for.
Tucked away on seven and a half verdant acres on the old Ridgefield Road in Wilton, the white clapboard house with its by-appointment-only antiques shop is understated and traditional, just what one would expect in this affluent bedroom community just over an hour north of Manhattan.
The assortment of cars parked in the sizable gravel court adjacent to the house is the first indication of unexpected activity inside. Shelves well stocked with ceramics, sculpture and books, and walls hung to the ceilings with paintings, drawings, prints and photographs, testify to the many interests of Peter Warren — traveler, collector and antiques dealer.
Visitors are warmly, if unconventionally, welcomed. Coconut, a large, white, happily untethered cockatoo, squawks hello. Blazin, the friendliest of four Warren dogs, offers a wet nose. Weary of visitors, English bull dogs Puck and McDuff and French bull dog Edith Louise eye their beds longingly. Client service is not for them.
It's a busy morning at the Warren household. Peter's daughter Maria Alejandra, known as A.J., is rushing out the door to her job as director of broadcast marketing at CBS News in New York, where she has worked for 28 years. Off to make an important professional appearance, grandson Josh Warren is pondering his choice of tie.
These ladies date from the Tang dynasty, 618–907, and are favorites of Peter's.
Peter Warren brings magisterial calm to the amiable bustle, something he has been known to do throughout his 60-year career as a beverage industry executive and advocate for charitable causes. As the former chairman of the Council of Governing Boards, he pushed for more affordable tuition at 110 independent colleges and universities in New York State.
"It kept me pretty active," says Warren, the recipient of a slew of honorary degrees and a 1984 commendation for his efforts on behalf of postsecondary education from President Ronald Reagan.
In the mid-1980s, hoping to enlist Warren and his late wife, Maria, to her own cause, Wilton Historical Society and Heritage Museum executive director Marilyn Gould invited the couple to help with the museum's "Mulled Wine and Madrigals" holiday celebration. When a steaming punch bowl crashed to the kitchen floor just as festivities were getting underway, Peter Warren insisted on remaining in the kitchen to clean up the sticky mess so that Gould could attend to her guests.
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