News

Op-Ed: The Brick Barn Risk to Taxpayers

By |

The Mead Park Brick Barn debate should focus on New Canaan taxpayers. Should we underwrite the cost of preserving the Barn in perpetuity? Most would say no. 

The New Canaan Preservation Alliance claims that its September 12 proposal “Eliminates all Town costs related to [the] Barn.” That’s what taxpayers want to hear. But the claim would be true only if the State of Connecticut continues grant and tax credit programs at current levels for several years, if the State approves the full amount of NCPA submissions in each of three consecutive years, and if private donations are sufficient to defray any short-term and long-term maintenance costs not funded by the State. 

That’s a lot of “ifs.”

Government

Selectmen Split on Demolishing ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

By |

Selectman Kit Devereaux on Tuesday called for the town to halt the planned demolition of the structure known as the “Mead Park Brick Barn” on Richmond Hill Road. 

While many in town, including Devereaux herself, are “not necessarily attached to the building,” she said, “I have huge regard for the [New Canaan] Preservation Alliance.”

“And I think if they have got a plan and they want to move forward with this, we can save $65,000 and we can honor an important organization,” Devereaux said at the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting, held in Town Hall, referring to the estimated cost of demolition. “It has been standing there for over 100 years. I do not understand what a year or two more will matter.”

As of now, the Brick Barn—or “Richmond Hill garage,” as it alternately is known—is slated for demolition Oct. 23. The town on July 14 applied to demolish the 1911-built structure on the northern edge of Mead Park where Standard Oil’s horse-drawn delivery wagons used to fill containers for fuel delivery in New Canaan.

News

Letter: Preserve the ‘Brick Barn’ at Mead Park

By |

The Brick Barn at Mead Park is historically significant. Constructed in 1911, it was a stable for horses used to deliver kerosene to local residents. Standard Oil’s delivery wagon filled its tanks and five-gallon containers to deliver to farms and retail stores, to the town for street lighting, public building heat and lighting, and to residential customers for lighting their oil lamps and fueling their oil heaters and stoves. During World War II Red Cross ladies met at the barn and rolled bandages and knitted for the troops. During and after the war the Town Band and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Fife & Drum Corps practiced patriotic music at the Barn to play for residents.  

The Brick Barn at Mead Park is architecturally significant. “As probably the last remaining example of such a delivery stable in Connecticut, this barn has great historic, cultural and architectural significance” said Bruce Clouette PhD, an independent Industrial Archeologist who has for 40 years prepared National Register nominations all over the state.

Government

Q&A: New Canaan Preservation Group Seeks Long-Term Lease for ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

By |

With about six weeks remaining until the town is cleared to demolish the Mead Park Brick Barn, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to preservation of historic structures is making a major push to see building spared from the wrecking ball. The New Canaan Preservation Alliance has launched a website dedicated to the brick structure at 64 Richmond Hill Road, sometimes referred to as the ‘Richmond Hill Garage.’ In May, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan broke a 6-6 tie on the Town Council to keep $65,000 for razing the Brick Barn in a larger municipal bonding package. In July, the NCPA came forward with an initial proposal to preserve the building that Moynihan described as not “credible.” The town applied (to itself) for a demolition permit and the founder of the NCPA promptly filed a formal letter of objection. That forced the Historical Review Committee to decide whether a 90-day demolition delay was in order, and it did. 

Now, as the clock ticks on the delay, the NCPA is coming forward with a plan for the Brick Barn’s preservation, and is expected to make its case before the Town Council at the legislative body’s regular meeting Wednesday. Major open questions facing the NCPA include whether it’s prepared to fund the restoration and ongoing maintenance of the Brick Barn, what would be its future use and just how the organization could undo the municipal process of demolition at this point.

Around Town

Richmond Hill Neighbors Weigh In on Future of ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

By |

The pending demolition of the Mead Park Brick Barn has drawn polarizing reactions from the community—while preservationists advocate for its historical and cultural value, at least some of those who favor its razing live in the long-vacant building’s immediate area. Amy Wilkinson lives in the townhouse off of Richmond Hill, and said she is “very much anticipating the demolition of the structure” and is “very happy it is finally going to happen. The building is “an eyesore” for residents and “doesn’t have a particular function and it hasn’t for a long time,” she told NewCanaanite on a recent afternoon. According to Sandy Kelly, a relative newcomer tof Richmond Hill Road, the decaying structure has not been actively preserved and has attracted “delinquent behaviors” in some cases. Wilkinson confirmed that there is “a tendency for people to hang out around here.”

According to Chris Orelup of Richmond Hill Road has described the building as an “eyesore” and noted that demolishing up with open up the neighborhood to “an uninterrupted view of Mead Park from Richmond Hill and Grove that will be lovely.”

“I believe that the vast majority of those who actually live in the neighborhood will be very glad to have it gone,” Orelup said.