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The ‘Herter Looms’ Tapestry: A Treasure Is Discovered at Waveny House

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For years, Mimi Findlay had thought that the ‘H.L.’ signature on a hunting-scene tapestry hanging in the dining room at Waveny House referred to a member of the Lapham family. That’s understandable, as the tapestry is dated 1912, the year the Laphams had the iconic brick mansion built on their sprawling property that flanked South Avenue (then a popular horseracing road sometimes called the “New Road” to Darien or “Two-mile road,” historians say). Then, earlier this year, as restoration began on the limestone fireplace in Waveny House’s Great Hall—that work undertaken thanks to the generosity of an organization that Findlay had helped found eight years ago, the New Canaan Preservation Alliance—Recreation Director Steve Benko came upon a handwritten note in his archives that quoted a Lapham relative, David Lapham, in reference to the tapestry. According to Benko, Ruth Lapham Lloyd prior to passing and had told this relative that all the wallpaper in the Grand Hall, Dining Room and upstairs and hallway had been done by a firm out of New York City called Herter Looms.

On Tuesday, Benko told the Board of Selectmen—by way of requesting $5,230 in order to have a specialist firm out of South Salem, N.Y. clean, fumigate, re-back and otherwise restore the tapestry—that he looked up ‘Herter Looms’ and quickly found that the firm, and tapestry, “has historical significance.”

In fact, Findlay—herself a thorough local historian—explained in an email to NewCanaanite.com that Herter Looms was a business created by a remarkable 19th and early-20th Century man from an equally celebrated family. “Herter Looms was founded by the artists Adele and Albert Herter in 1909, Findlay said.

Government

‘What Do We Want That Building To Be?’: Future Use of Waveny House an Open Question

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Waveny House needs so much work to get up to code and operate as a public building that—after baseline repairs are made, such as to its leaky roof—residents must decide just what role the cherished building should play in town, officials say. The Board of Selectmen should establish a committee that looks at Waveny House and answers this basic question, the town’s highest official said Tuesday: “What do we want that building to be?”

“Do we want it to be the offices of [the Recreation Department] and to store stuff?” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said at the board’s regular monthly meeting, held at Town Hall. “Do we want it to have 150 weddings a year and be a revenue generator?”

The comments came as the selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a $37,500 contract with a White Plains, N.Y.-based architectural firm to prepare for the first phase of capital work at Waveny. The architectural services from KSQ Architects will be based on a 2010 capital facilities plan that encompassed 16 structures in New Canaan (see page 35 of the Executive Summary and page 503 for detailed line items). That plan calls for roof replacement as well as ADA ramps and toilets at Waveny House, a kitchen rebuild and new boiler and piping, among other projects.

Around Town

Plans To Refurbish Waveny House Plantings Approved

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Town officials cited the effects of a brutal winter, combined with 25 years of wear-and-tear on planting at Waveny House in moving to authorize funding for new landscaping around the cherished town-owned structure. Over the years, plants have grown to obstruct the view from the Waveny House balcony to the fields and gazebo behind it, the Board of Selectmen said at their July 7 meeting. The tipping point to action was the large number of foundational plants and holly’s which were devastated by the brutal winter, Recreation Director Steve Benko said at the meeting, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department. The measure was passed 2-0 by First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and board member Beth Jones. Selectman Nick Williams did not attend the meeting.

News

NCHS Seniors Thank Parent Post-Prom Volunteers for Wonderful Night

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In New Canaan, Senior Prom Night is more than a few awkward pictures taken by parents as high schoolers make their way out the door and onto the dance floor. Many of the memories of Senior Prom begin after the prom is over at the Annual Post Prom held at the Waveny House. Last Friday night, the doors opened at 11:59 p.m. and food, games, shows, and raffles continued on until the sun was rising at 5 a.m. The theme of the night was Flashback Friday in which the seniors were taken on a journey through their childhood in New Canaan. The New Canaan High School class of 2015 would like to thank all of the parents that spent over a year putting together this unforgettable night. The event was organized by Post Prom Chairs Whitney Legard Williams, Cam Hutchins, and Sue Kammler, along with many other parent volunteers.

Around Town

Copper Beech Planted by Waveny House as Locals Honor Ted Winpenny on Arbor Day

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The head of New Canaan’s Public Tree Board gathered with a selectman and small group of locals on the windswept field by Waveny House on Friday morning to dedicate a newly planted copper beech tree to the memory a civic-minded New Canaan man. This year’s Arbor Day planting was dedicated to Ted Winpenny, a man whose numerous activities in New Canaan made it difficult for the board to decide just where to plan the tree, board Chairman Tom Cronin said. “Do we plant the tree at Mead Park, where Ted helped organize the annual Labor Day doubles tennis tournaments?” Cronin said, as Winpenny’s daughter and grandson, Belinda and Benjamin Paris, stood nearby. “Do we plant it on Cherry Street, in front of the New Canaan Community Foundation that he helped to establish, which is an organization that has soon will hit a milestone of more than $10 million to local charities since its inception? Do we plant near Waveny Care Center, where Ted volunteered for so many years?