Arnold Karp

Affordable Housing: Commission Denies Application for ‘Certificate of Appropriateness’ at Red Cross Building

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The volunteer body that oversees New Canaan’s Historic District—roughly, the area around God’s Acre—last week denied an application from a local developer seeking to create an affordable housing complex within its boundaries. Under the town’s Historic District Regulations, “No building or structure shall be erected or altered within the historic district until after an application for a ‘Certificate of Appropriateness’ as to exterior architectural features has been submitted to the Historic District Commission and approved by the Commission.”

A 103-page application filed Aug. 7 on behalf of developer Arnold Karp calls for approval of a Certificate to take about 80% of the so-called “Red Cross building” (after its longtime former owner) at 51 Main St. and move so that it’s 17.5 feet from the roadway, as opposed to the current 50 feet, according to the application. A new residential building would go in behind it, offering 20 total living units, six of which would be rented at affordable rates, as per the state’s definition.

Government

Town Delays Demo of Colonial Court Home After Neighbors, Preservationists Object 

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Saying the structure is architecturally significant, members of a town committee last week imposed a 90-day delay on the planned demolition of a 1933-built fieldstone-clad house on Colonial Court. 

The Historical Review Committee voted 4-0 to impose the delay on 9 Colonial Court, a two-story, three-bedroom house at the end of the cul-de-sac, which runs west off of South Avenue near the downtown. 

Under the Town Code, if the town building official receives a written objection to demolition within 15 days of public notice, the matter is referred to the appointed Committee to determine whether the structure is “of an age, style, condition or character that is of historical, architectural or cultural significance to the Town of New Canaan”—and if it is, a delay of up to 90 days can be imposed on demolition. Committee member Marty Skrelunas said the house in question here meets the criteria and is “worthy of conversation before any dramatic change takes place.”

“The street itself, as pointed out by the neighbors, is truly one of the last intact streets in New Canaan,” he said. “And it was certainly designed and built around a certain design criteria. That’s readily apparent. And while I also understand that the house can be replaced, that’s perfectly legitimate if that does happen, I would urge that if there is a delay, time is spent to understand the scale, the setback and other qualities that that anchor of a house has, to respect the scale and dignity of the neighborhood.”

Skrelunas added that “there are certain design solutions that can make the house much larger, that can meet the needs of the current owner, but I do think those design needs can also address the scale and character of the neighborhood.”

“It does maintain a good, uniform setback along the street, and building height, and the trend of new houses of coursed is to raise every floor by a foot or two,” he said.

Arnold Karp

‘Your Records Need To Be Better Kept’: God’s Acre Builder Criticizes Appointed Body at Contentious Hearing

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During a contentious hearing last week, two appointed officials abstained from voting to accept the final re-construction of a prominent God’s Acre home. In voicing concerns about the material used for the roof of a portico at 4 Main St., Historic District Commission members Carl Rothbart and Mark Markiewicz drew criticism from the builder who has overseen the widely publicized rebuilding project. 

Arnold Karp of Karp Associates Inc. told them he’s had as many as 3,000 people come through the home since its unveiling in September as the “This Old House” 2019 Idea House. 

Many of those visitors “are architects or people who are involved in historic preservation or architecture in general, including an [American Institute of Architects] event this evening,” Karp said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held Thursday at Town Hall. “And not a single person has commented to us on, Geez that is an issue, and we have heard all sorts of comments on the house,” Karp said. According to Markiewicz, members of the Commission in meeting about the project at Karp’s office “discussed about doing a flat roof” there rather than one with a metal standing seam. Rothbart said, “You have done a really nice job in restoring the house and the thing that really stands out—this is why we are making an issue of it—I mean, if you showed that standing seam roof on the drawings and we approved it, so be it.

Government

Town Imposes 90-Day Demolition Delay on New Canaan Country School Barn

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Town officials on Tuesday imposed a 90-day stay of demolition for an antique barn on New Canaan Country School property. In planning to raze the structure as well as a row of smaller sheds that originally had been used as chicken coops to make way for a new outdoor pool and pool house, the Frogtown Road private school appears not to have considered using the original barn in some way, according to members of the Historical Review Committee. Committee member Marty Skrelunas said he was disappointed that the project’s architect appeared not to looked at the “adaptive reuse” of the barn. “Given the structure, the style of construction, it would be a very easy building to redesign,” Skrelunas said during the Committee’s meeting, held in the Janet Lindstrom Room of the New Canaan Historical Society. “It is not like a brick building where the spaces are defined by the structure.

4 Main St.

At Meeting That Turned Testy, Officials Voice Support for Plan To Restore and Rebuild God’s Acre Home 

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Saying a New Canaan builder has been collaborative and respectful of local history, officials on Tuesday voiced support for a plan to preserve much of an antique home on God’s Acre while rebuilding the rest of the house. Though members of the Historic District Commission for technical reasons (cited during a testy exchange, see below) stopped short of voting on whether to immediately approve a “Certificate of Appropriateness” for Karp Associates’ plan for the Greek Revival at 4 Main St., they applauded the firm’s decision to keep more than two-thirds of the original home. “It’s been noticed that you have gone above and beyond in your effort to keep the large majority of the antique house, all of the facade that is visible from the street—two facades, the 26-foot front and 30-foot side and the roof—and that you have also kept certain interior features which are out of our jurisdiction,” Commission Vice Chairman Marty Skrelunas said during the appointed body’s special meeting, held at Town Hall. He addressed Arnold Karp, president of Karp Associates, and COO Paul Stone, both in attendance. Skrelunas and Commissioner Mark Markiewicz had formed a subcommittee that worked with Karp’s team and architect Christopher Hull of Fairfield-based CAH Architecture and Design LLC for more than one month on plans for the prominent property.