A prominent local builder said he’s contract purchaser of the dilapidated 1780-built Greek Revival-style home on God’s Acre and plans to restore the long-vacant antique.
The antique home at 4 Main St. in New Canaan. Credit: Michael Dinan
New Canaan resident Arnold Karp of Karp Associates told NewCanaanite.com that he plans to demolish a recent addition to the back of 4 Main St. and preserve the street-facing façade, if salvageable.
“It would look like the old house was saved and rectified,” Karp said. “It should be a win because the house is in the Historic District.”
If the purchase goes through—final approval is needed from a bank, which now owns the property—then Karp said the overall size of the structure will be reduced, under his own plan.
“The upshot is you actually have a builder who lives and works in town, who is going to take the time, money and effort to make it look either as it looks today or with modifications to look as though it belongs in the historic district,” Karp said.
He’s been trying to buy the home for four years.
The target this summer of a blight complaint from the volunteers who oversee New Canaan’s historic district—roughly the area around God’s Acre—the 10-room, 7,000-square-foot home for years has been tied up in lawsuits and foreclosure proceedings that recently became even more complicated due to a procedural error in court.
In June, after talks with one prospective buyer broke down, historic district officials reported that a local builder appeared close to making an offer on the house at 4 Main St., owned since 1984 by Dr. James Talbot.
In 2013, a local couple, whose detailed plans for restoring the home gained favor from the commission, made an offer on the home that had been accepted by the bank. Two months later, officials reported that Talbot had rejected that offer.
Last July, a civil court issued a judgment of foreclosure by sale on the property, according to records on file with the Connecticut Judicial Branch. Last October, Talbot appealed that decision, and procedural error in state court that then came to light threatened to delay foreclosure proceedings further.
The case went to state Appellate Court, a July 22 court filing obtained by NewCanaanite.com shows.
According to Karp, Talbot has agreed to drop that appeal in order to allow the purchase to go through. Members of the Historic District Commission said at their meeting Thursday that they will not pursue the blight complaint while the sale of the home to Karp is being finalized, in the interests of getting an active owner on the property as soon as possible and in order to avoid complicating the situation further.
Why not restore the whole house. Anything is possible if you look beyond the impossible…