Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: Richmond Hill Garage/Mead Park Brick Barn

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings.”]

Built: 1901
Square footage: 2,500
Current uses: Vacant
Committee recommendations: Demolish it unless there is an individual or organization that can fund renovation for town-sanctioned use with endowment for lifetime maintenance. Relevant articles: Even ‘Richmond Hill Garage’ Gets a Fresh Look from Group Appointed to Evaluate Town Buildings (March 2017), Now, Vandalism: Richmond Hill Garage Remains a Problem, Town Officials Say (July 2017)

Submitted by Robin Beckett:

The Mead Park Brick Barn is located at 64 Richmond Hill Road. In 2010 it was listed on the CT Register of Historic Places, a designation which qualifies it for CT Trust, state, federal and foundation grants for its structural assessment, repair and restoration. In 1901 Benjamin Mead of New Canaan and James Mead of Greenwich sold a lot situated near “Dismal Swamp” on Richmond Hill Road near Grove Street to Standard Oil Company of New York for $300 where Standard Oil then built a kerosene depot complex of brick structures which were later documented in a 1927 Sanborn map. One of the structures was a carriage barn with stalls for horses, grain and tack, a center passageway for a kerosene delivery wagon and a hayloft above.

Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: New Canaan Police Department (Original NCHS)

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings,” to be held 6:30 to 9 p.m. on April 26 at Town Hall (questions for panelists can be submitted here). Most of the information in the bullet points below is drawn from the Town Building Evaluation & Use Committee report.]

Built: 1926, opened 1927
Square footage: 27,000
Current uses: Headquarters of the New Canaan Police Department, New Canaan Parking Bureau
Committee recommendations: Fund the architectural and engineering needed for renovations. Use ground and first floors for NCPD and upper floor for municipal offices and swing space. Relevant articles: Board of Ed To Form Its Own ‘Headquarters Committee’ To Study, Recommend Future Location (March 2018), Board of Ed Offices Should Be Moved To Underused Third Floor of New Canaan Police Department, First Selectman Says (December 2017), Superintendent: School Administration ‘Open’ to Relocating to Town-Owned Facility (November 2017). Submitted by Mimi Findlay:

Description

The current Police Station (the original New Canaan High School) is a 2-story structure of red brick and cut stone In the Georgian/Colonial Revival Style, designed in1926 by John Nobel Pierson and Son, Architects, Perth Amboy, NJ.

Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: Irwin Barn

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings,” to be held 6:30 to 9 p.m. on April 26 at Town Hall (questions for panelists can be submitted here). Most of the information in the bullet points below is drawn from the Town Building Evaluation & Use Committee report.]

Built: 1908
Square Footage: 4,128 s.f.
Current Uses: Storage
Committee Recommendations: Invest in stabilizing and repurposing the barn, whose very large spaces, two ground floor levels, proximity to park activities and architectural character lend it to many opportunities. Potential uses include Park and Rec’s headquarters and location of Park & Rec Summer Camp, restroom facilities servicing the park, some level of organized storage for Parks and other town departments, potential cell service equipment and flagpole tower, among others. Relevant articles: Garden Club Wants To Use Irwin Park (Including Barn) for May Flower Sale, Officials Report (March 2017)

Submitted by Mimi Findlay:

This large Carriage Barn was built by Dr. James F. McKernon, who bought the 70-acre property from Charles Comstock homestead in 1905. In 1908 McKernon built his two-and-a-half story Shingle Style summer house, this barn and a smaller building, perhaps the pump house, by the side of the driveway.

Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: The Playhouse

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings.”]

Built: 1923, Colonial Revival
Square footage: 8,560
Current uses: Movie theater with florist on ground floor, two nonprofit organizations on second floor. The town currently nets $86,000 per year in rent, with no consideration of capital costs. Committee recommendations: Given the terms of the current lease, which runs through 2022, with an option to renew for five additional years, minimize capital expenses for the building. Relevant articles: Committee Mulls Whether Town Should Continue As Owner of Playhouse (November 2017), Officials: Bow Tie Cinemas Interested in Restoring, Possibly Purchasing New Canaan Playhouse (January 2017), ‘There’s a Fine Line Between Charming and Outdated’: Playhouse Committee Convenes First Meeting (October 2015), ‘It’s Part of Why People Come to This Town’: Officials Discuss Future of New Canaan Playhouse (April 2015), New Canaan Playhouse: Private Owner Would Have More Flexibility in ADA Compliance (March 2015)

Submitted by Lesley Cousley:

Built in 1923 and designed by New Canaan architect Calvin E. Kiessling, this was the first building of the Village Improvement Company, in part of its planned development of Elm Street, then known as Railroad Avenue. The Colonial Revival style building helped set the style for development downtown.

Government

Public Buildings InfoSheet: Former Outback Teen Center

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[Editor’s Note: The following has been prepared in advance of the “Forum on Public Buildings,” to be held 6:30 to 9 p.m. on April 26 at Town Hall (questions for panelists can be submitted here). Most of the information in the bullet points below is drawn from the Town Building Evaluation & Use Committee report.]

Built: 2001
Square footage: 4,925
Current uses: Vacant
Committee recommendations: Renovate the building to house a new “alternative” New Canaan High School. Relevant articles: See links below. Perhaps no town-owned building in New Canaan has generated more news coverage and opinions on future use than the former Outback Teen Center, a 17-year-old structure wedged between the Playhouse and Town Hall parking lots. That news coverage has come in four waves since the Teen Center began to falter financially in earnest three years ago: first, as the organization’s board sought town support for a rejiggered program and then transferred ownership of the structure; second, as an area organization that serves developmentally disabled adults emerged with a proposed new use for the building (which didn’t pan out); third, when the Outback’s safety and physical viability was called into question; and finally, when the Board of Education proposed launching an “alternative” high school in it.