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. The second-floor loft space in the structure will be used for storage, Hauck said.
Under the town’s Historic District Regulations, changes to the exterior of structures within the District that are visible from the public roadway require a Certificate of Appropriateness.
The Commission’s Rothbart, Chair Tom Nissley, Secretary Marty Skrelunas and members Todd Lampert and Dick Rose voted in favor of approving the Certificate of Appropriateness, pending separate Special Permit approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission.
“I think it’s very nicely done,” Rothbart said.
Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, building coverage may exceed what is normally allowed with a Special Permit from P&Z, on certain conditions.
The 1.6-acre property at 20 Oenoke Lane originally was the site of the H.V.B. Smith House, according to the Historic District Commission records.