Around Town
Local Preservationists Seek Historic Designation for Waveny House
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A nonprofit group’s effort to place one of New Canaan’s most treasured public buildings on the National Register of Historic Places took a step forward this month by gaining support from the Park and Recreation Commission. The head of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance said at the commission’s May meeting that the town will qualify for grants and matching funding on the state and federal levels for upkeep and improvements at Waveny House if the group’s application for registry succeeds. After raising funds through a 2012 event marking Waveny House’s 100th birthday, the alliance formed a committee that includes an architect, preservation architect, engineer and a former owner of a major New York City-based construction firm to focus on the town building, Rose Scott Long, current president of the NCPA, said during the commission’s May 14 meeting. “This team has been working with the town of New Canaan on a number of potential projects for Waveny House,” she said during the meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “Together we’ve developed documents for the restoration of the veneer wood flooring and the limestone fireplace in the Great Hall.”
Designed by Greenwich’s W.B. Tubbs and built in 1912 under the Laphams, Waveny House is named for the River ‘Waveney’—part of the Norfolk Broads, an area of eastern England from which the Lapham family hails, historians say.