Government

Historic District Officials File Blight Complaint in Connection with Dilapidated 1780-Built Main Street Home

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The volunteers that oversee New Canaan’s historic district—roughly the area around God’s Acre—are calling on town officials to consider a blight citation for a neglected antique home on Main Street. Tied up in lawsuits and foreclosure proceedings that recently became even more complicated due to a procedural error in court, the 1780-built Greek Revival-style house at 4 Main St. has been vacant for at least three years, officials say. At their most recent meeting, members of the Historic District Commission voted to contact New Canaan’s building official, invoking the town’s Blight Abatement and Prevention Ordinance. According to a letter that the commission’s secretary, Terry Spring, filed at Town Hall, the property “has been of concern to the Commission for some time and we note that there has been no improvement in the deteriorating condition of the historic house and grounds.”

“We note the property appears abandoned, the exterior building condition shows general damage and dilapidation of the structure.

News

Town Officials: Local Builder Close To Making Offer on Vacant Historic Home on God’s Acre

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Though recent talks with one prospective buyer appear to have fallen through, a local builder now is putting in an offer on a deteriorating antique home on God’s Acre, officials said Thursday. Long vacant and tied up for years in foreclosure proceedings that have stalled its transfer, the 1780-built Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St., if sold to an active owner, could be restored to prominence and in New Canaan’s designated historic district, according to the volunteer commission that oversees it. The Historic District Commission’s job now is to encourage the upkeep of the property there, and should consider requesting that the town get involved, Janet Lindstrom, the group’s acting chairman, said at a regular meeting. “I would like to to go the town and say, ‘Is there something we can do?’ Because to have that in the center of our district is really, really terrible,” Lindstrom said at the meeting, held at the New Canaan Historical Society’s Town House, just two doors up the hill from the .43-acre property in question. A member of the commission, Tom Nissley, last year had contacted homeowner Dr. James Talbot and received permission to have someone mow the lawn there, Lindstrom said.

News

Though Under Contract, Vacant Historic Home on God’s Acre Remains Tied Up In Foreclosure Proceedings

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Though progress appears to have been made in the sale of a prominent, deteriorating antique home on God’s Acre—a development long sought by historic preservationists—the property remains vacant and tied up in foreclosure proceedings that have stalled its transfer. The 1780-built Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St. is being foreclosed upon, through a civil lawsuit filed by the bank that’s been tied up in court for more than three years. In 2013, a local couple, whose detailed plans for restoring the 10-room, 7,000-square-foot home had been looked on favorably by the Historic District Commission, made an offer on the .43-acre property that they said last March had been accepted by the bank. Two months later, officials reported that the home’s owner, Dr. James Talbot had rejected that offer.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Scroll through the gallery above to view five new signs and awnings that soon will appear in downtown New Canaan, following approval Tuesday night by the Planning & Zoning Commission. ***

“I’m for toilet equality.”—That’s what Town Hall Building Committee member Kathleen Corbet had to say about a matter that came to the forefront in the weeks after Town Hall reopened following an $18 million renovation and expansion. The architects on the project created two water closets but no urinals in the men’s rooms, citing space and compliance issues. For the record, fellow committee member Neil Budnick said: “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

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A mixed-breed dog struck by a car near the intersection of Oenoke Ridge and Country Club Roads last Wednesday around 2:15 p.m. appears to be faring OK after the animal was brought to Cornell Veterinary Hospital in Stamford. ***

This week, 31 New Canaan kids attended a basketball camp in Stroudsburg, Pa.

Government

Fear of ‘Demolition by Neglect’ for Historic 1780 Home on God’s Acre, in Foreclosure

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Town officials say they’re concerned that if a long-vacant 1780 home on God’s Acre doesn’t get a tenant soon it could end up a demolition-by-neglect. If the antique, Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St. comes down it “would be horrendous in the middle of our historic district,” Janet Lindstrom, acting chairman of the Historic District Commission said at the group’s most recent meeting. “That would be just terrible, and as one can see, it’s not being occupied,” she said at the Oct. 23 meeting, held in the Town House annex meeting room at the New Canaan Historical Society.