The owner of a ca. 1750 home on 4.43 acres on upper Valley Road says that the structure may soon go on the market—a noteworthy prospect for historic preservationists as well as the New Canaan Land Trust, which owns and maintains walking trails on an abutting property that also fronts the Grupes Reservoir.
1124 Valley Road. Credit: Michael Dinan
The first taxing district of Norwalk purchased 1124 Valley Road in February 2006 for $2.25 million, with the idea that it may move to that site an inconspicuous treatment plant now located near Silver Hill Hospital, according to James Fulton, the district’s attorney and owner of the parcel, as trustee.
“We bought it and over the years, the more we considered it, we decided it probably wouldn’t be cost-effective to use it as part of the utility operation, which is why for years we’ve rented it out to residential tenants,” Fulton said.
Though the district hasn’t made any firm decisions, “we are considering marketing the property for sale,” he added.
Which is of interest to the New Canaan Land Trust. For 45 years, the Land Trust has owned the W. Pritchard Browne Wildlife Sanctuary, a 10.3-acre trailed property that’s accessible at two points along Valley Road.
It’s important that the Land Trust talk to the taxing district “insofar as this parcel is contiguous with the Browne Wildlife Sanctuary, which is one of the few waterfront properties that the Land Trust has,” said New Canaan’s John Engel, secretary of the organization’s Board of Directors.
“And it has a 200-plus-year-old structure on it, and preservationists in town are always interested in the possibility of a preservation easement that would help maintain the character of our town,” Engel said.
Zoning regulations allow for a special permit that allows for a variance of up to 75 percent in order to preserve a historic structure. Given that the allowable coverage of the parcel at 1124 Valley Road is the equivalent of about 9,461 square feet, officials say, and the existing footprint of the home itself is about 1,400 square feet, an owner could develop the property in a way that allows exempts the existing building and allows it to remain as a guest house or something similar.
Other possibilities for the property could include a conservation easement for a future developer that would open up more access to the Land Trust property.
According to research completed by Mimi Findlay, chairman emerita of the nonprofit New Canaan Preservation Alliance, the Grupe-Nichols-Brown House is a very important antique structure. It’s situated near the road, with a well in front—both characteristics of antiques—though it isn’t clear whether the saltbox rear is original to it, according to Findlay.
Asked for his thoughts on preserving the house, Fulton said, “We have no interest in tearing it down.”
He added: “We think it’s a quaint and charming home.”
Fulton also said he is eager to open up discussions with the Land Trust.
“It is so important that everybody who lives in the vicinity of a watershed preserve the pristine quality of it, and in that regard people like the the Land Trust are our most welcome neighbors, and that is what our key objective is,” Fulton said.
Here’s where the house is. The Land Trust property is the long parcel directly north of it.