Amy Murphy Carroll

‘This Is Disappointing’: Playhouse Renovation Estimate Up to $7.9 Million, Double Original Budget

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Due primarily to the unexpected expense of a new HVAC system, the widely anticipated renovation of the town-owned movie theater on Elm Street is now projected to cost about $7.9 million, more than twice the initial budget of $3.9 million, officials say. The town originally anticipated re-using the existing HVAC system in the Playhouse, and budgeted about $400,000 for that part of the project, but due to new Code requirements and the need for better air circulation, the cost has risen by nearly $2 million, to $2.3 million, according to Department of Public Works officials. In addition, the town and its contractors found, after starting the interior demolition of the 1923-built Playhouse, that more structural work was needed than they’d anticipated, Public Works Director Tiger Mann told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday. “We noticed that during previous work in the building they actually did some damage to the structure itself, taking out some bearing items, some of the girders are separating, some of the areas that needed to be replaced were refashioned,” Mann said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“So the structural engineers mentioned things that we’ve got to do on the structural side to make the building whole again. And then, given the fact of, after the eight separate design iterations that we went through to try and fit everything into the building and make it compliant with current standards and make it accessible throughout.

Government

Historic District Commission: Proposed Redevelopment of Former Red Cross Property Not Appropriate

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Members of the appointed body that oversees New Canaan’s Historic District—roughly, 21 properties around and near God’s Acre—said last week that plans to redevelop the former Red Cross building property are not in line with the town’s guidelines for the area. Plans filed in May at 51 Main St. call for the ca. 1889 structure—long associated with its former owner, the Red Cross (developer Arnold Karp purchased it five years ago through a limited liability company)—to be moved closer to the road while building a multi-family residential structure with 20 apartments behind it, six of which would be rent-restricted as part of an 8-30g affordable housing application. The Historic District Commission during its Oct.

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Historic District Commission Approves Addition on Oenoke Lane

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The volunteer panel that oversees New Canaan’s Historic District—the area around God’s Acre, generally speaking—last week voted 5-0 to approve a plan to build a mudroom and three-car garage onto an Oenoke Lane home. Just part of the 1962-built Colonial at 20 Oenoke Lane is located within the district, according to a map on the town website. As such, the Historic District Commission’s interest in the homeowner’s project is “focused on what you are doing on the east side of the house, where you are doing a major addition which is in District,” Commission Vice Chair Carl Rothbart said during the appointed body’s July 22 meeting, held via videoconference. “What you are adding at the bedrooms and back of the house really is beyond our purview,” he said. Darien-based architect Neil Tod Hauck, representing the homeowners, said a glass-enclosed mudroom would lead to the new two-story garage on the east side of the house, with a metal roof featuring three “doghouse” dormers and topped with a cupola.

Carl Rothbart

Historical Society Seeks Approval for Cedar- and Asphalt-Shingle Roof Project

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The volunteer body that oversees New Canaan’s Historic District is poised to approve a request from an organization located on God’s Acre to replace cedar shingles on part of a building there with asphalt shingles. The New Canaan Museum and Historical Society is seeking to replace keep the shingles on its 1825 “Town House” building facing Oenoke Ridge as cedar, but to use asphalt shingles for the roof of a 2000 addition that houses the Lindstrom conference room, officials said. “We have a number of leaks,” the organization’s executive director, Nancy Geary, told members of the Historic District Commission at their July 23 meeting, held via videoconference. 

“One of the problems that we have is under roof of Lindstrom Room as part of of the library roof is where we store our extensive clothing and textile collection,” she said. “So we are very worried about water damage in there. It’s already leaking in the attic extensively.

Carl Rothbart

New Museum Planned for Park Street To Focus on Historic Preservation 

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Town officials on Thursday heard more details on plans to convert a well-known Park Street home into a museum focused primarily on historic preservation. 

Once the home of the great Scribners editor Maxwell Perkins, the Greek Revival at 63 Park St. will house a philanthropic organization and feature exhibits and lectures, according to Wilton-based architect William Earls. “It being so walkable in the center of town and also so close to the Historical Society—and also not only is the house itself so much part of that program but having, of course, the Glass House and Fred Noyes’s house and Grace Farms—all seemed to have this happy synergy with David’s intent there,” Earls told members of the Historic District Commission at their May 28 meeting, held via videoconference. 

He referred to David Peterson, principal of the limited liability company that purchased the ca.-1836 house and its .33 acres for nearly $2.5 million in November 2018. The town in March received a building permit for an estimated $750,000 interior renovation on the structure. Because the project involves some exterior changes to parts of the building that are visible from the public street, the Commission’s approval also is required.