Arnold Karp

‘Your Records Need To Be Better Kept’: God’s Acre Builder Criticizes Appointed Body at Contentious Hearing

By |

During a contentious hearing last week, two appointed officials abstained from voting to accept the final re-construction of a prominent God’s Acre home. In voicing concerns about the material used for the roof of a portico at 4 Main St., Historic District Commission members Carl Rothbart and Mark Markiewicz drew criticism from the builder who has overseen the widely publicized rebuilding project. 

Arnold Karp of Karp Associates Inc. told them he’s had as many as 3,000 people come through the home since its unveiling in September as the “This Old House” 2019 Idea House. 

Many of those visitors “are architects or people who are involved in historic preservation or architecture in general, including an [American Institute of Architects] event this evening,” Karp said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held Thursday at Town Hall. “And not a single person has commented to us on, Geez that is an issue, and we have heard all sorts of comments on the house,” Karp said. According to Markiewicz, members of the Commission in meeting about the project at Karp’s office “discussed about doing a flat roof” there rather than one with a metal standing seam. Rothbart said, “You have done a really nice job in restoring the house and the thing that really stands out—this is why we are making an issue of it—I mean, if you showed that standing seam roof on the drawings and we approved it, so be it.

Government

Town Imposes 90-Day Demolition Delay on New Canaan Country School Barn

By |

Town officials on Tuesday imposed a 90-day stay of demolition for an antique barn on New Canaan Country School property. In planning to raze the structure as well as a row of smaller sheds that originally had been used as chicken coops to make way for a new outdoor pool and pool house, the Frogtown Road private school appears not to have considered using the original barn in some way, according to members of the Historical Review Committee. Committee member Marty Skrelunas said he was disappointed that the project’s architect appeared not to looked at the “adaptive reuse” of the barn. “Given the structure, the style of construction, it would be a very easy building to redesign,” Skrelunas said during the Committee’s meeting, held in the Janet Lindstrom Room of the New Canaan Historical Society. “It is not like a brick building where the spaces are defined by the structure.

4 Main St.

At Meeting That Turned Testy, Officials Voice Support for Plan To Restore and Rebuild God’s Acre Home 

By |

Saying a New Canaan builder has been collaborative and respectful of local history, officials on Tuesday voiced support for a plan to preserve much of an antique home on God’s Acre while rebuilding the rest of the house. Though members of the Historic District Commission for technical reasons (cited during a testy exchange, see below) stopped short of voting on whether to immediately approve a “Certificate of Appropriateness” for Karp Associates’ plan for the Greek Revival at 4 Main St., they applauded the firm’s decision to keep more than two-thirds of the original home. “It’s been noticed that you have gone above and beyond in your effort to keep the large majority of the antique house, all of the facade that is visible from the street—two facades, the 26-foot front and 30-foot side and the roof—and that you have also kept certain interior features which are out of our jurisdiction,” Commission Vice Chairman Marty Skrelunas said during the appointed body’s special meeting, held at Town Hall. He addressed Arnold Karp, president of Karp Associates, and COO Paul Stone, both in attendance. Skrelunas and Commissioner Mark Markiewicz had formed a subcommittee that worked with Karp’s team and architect Christopher Hull of Fairfield-based CAH Architecture and Design LLC for more than one month on plans for the prominent property.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

The town on May 11 received an application for the owner of the Huguette Clark estate on Dan’s Highway to build a tennis court on the 52-acre property. The 120-by-60-foot court will cost $98,750 to build. The contractor on the job is Oval Tennis Inc. of Somers, N.Y., architect Frangione Engineering LLC of New Canaan. ***

Congratulations to New Canaan High School senior lacrosse player Nick Crovatto, who broke a longstanding Rams record Monday in a game vs. Trumbull with his 676th faceoff win.

Government

Tense Meeting Yields New Officer on Key Municipal Group

By |

The volunteer municipal body that oversees the preservation of New Canaan’s historic district—God’s Acre and the buildings around it—had a new officer appointed to its commission during an odd, tense meeting Thursday. The former secretary of the Historic District Commission, Terry Spring, who had served on the five-member group since 2005, wasn’t reappointed by town officials earlier in the week. Instead, the Board of Selectmen appointed alternate Carl Rothbart as a regular member. Spring’s ousting meant that a new secretary had to be elected. Yet she attended the commission’s Jan.