Around Town

‘So Many Ways To Stay Connected’: New Canaan Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony [PHOTOS]

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New Canaan’s Jim Talbot arrived in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, a major campaign of the war that launched in early 1968 and involved a series surprise attacks. A Maine native who had gone on to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, U.S. Army Capt. Talbot by that time had undergone airborne and Ranger training, and spent one year stationed in West Germany. In six months as battery commander, Talbot saw four killed and 40 wounded in his towed artillery unit. “When you ask a veteran about Memorial Day, faces flash in front of us,” Talbot said from a podium outside the north entrance of Town Hall following a re-routed Memorial Day parade. “Memories of relatives in more distant wars arise from the fog of time.

News

Local Builder Pursues Purchase, Restoration of Neglected Antique Home on God’s Acre

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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. 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.

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.

Government

Officials Invoke Prospect of Blight Citation for God’s Acre Antique

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Officials are investigating whether they may invoke New Canaan’s blight ordinance to prompt action from the owner of a vacant and seemingly neglected antique home on God’s Acre. The 1780-built Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St. is being foreclosed upon, and a civil lawsuit filed by the bank has been tied up in court for three years. Members of the New Canaan Historic District Commission, long fearful that the prominent home would fall into such a poor state that it would be deemed uninhabitable and face the wrecking ball, said Thursday that they intend to find out whether the home could be cited for blight. “I think we should do that, so that we understand what we can reasonably do,” Commissioner Terry Spring said at the group’s meeting, held at the New Canaan Historical Society.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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A mediation hearing is scheduled for February 15 in the lawsuit brought by a bank against the owner of an historic 1780 home on God’s Acre. The antique, Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St. is being foreclosed upon, has been vacant for at least two years, officials say, and is deteriorating. The Bank of New York Mellon filed a civil lawsuit in July 2012, naming the home’s owner as a defendant. According to the lawsuit’s complaint, the owner had taken out a note for a loan in May 2007 in the amount of $2,280,000, and the mortgage on the property was assigned in October 2011 to The Bank of New York Mellon.