I have no details, but somehow the city declared the 313 Main St. house unsafe and knocked it down today.That it was done without warning or any publicity at all says an awful lot.
Here's the last story I wrote, from July:
Three years after Plymouth developer Ken Karl scrambled to move the oldest house on Main Street out of harm’s way, the city is increasingly determined to retake possession of the 187-year-old Federal-style home.
Karl’s been working on rehabilitating the 313 Main St. house ever since, making sometimes painfully slow progress.
But City Hall is fed up with the pace – and officials claim they’re ready to force Karl to return the property to city ownership.
“It’s obvious something’s gone astray,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, who heads the Real Estate Committee. “No more. The game is over.”
Councilors said they plan to discuss the case in closed-door session soon and then, in all likelihood, to take Karl to court.
“Cut off negotiations,” urged city Councilor Mike Rimcoski, and let the lawyers deal with the situation.
But it’s not clear that the city has much of a case.
Jeff Steeg, an assistant city attorney, said the council has already authorized litigation against Karl.
But, he said, the question is “exactly what did he do?”
Steeg said that Karl “clearly” breached the contract he had with the city by taking longer to complete the work than promised when he bought the house for $1 in order to get it out of the way so the $12 million library expansion could begin.
The remedy for Karl’s delay is uncertain. It’s not at all obvious that a judge would order him to sell the house back to the city, nor is anyone sure how much the city would need to pay.
Steeg said that if Karl sells the property for commercial use, the city will get back the value of the property. But beyond that, the legal situation is murky.
Nicasto said, though, that it is “ridiculous” that the issue has been pending for more than three years, with councilors pushing for Karl to finish renovating the property or return it to the city.
He said that he would like an executive session at August’s council meeting where officials can hash out the proper course of action.
“I want a decision made when we come out of that executive session,” Nicastro said.
Rimcoski said he was told two years ago the matter would be dealt with “in a few days” but it’s still dragging on.
Karl has said that he can’t understand why city leaders are so focused on him when there are far worse problems all over town.
He said that since he took the house, its assessed value has shot from $22,000 to $88,000 and he’s paying $1,800 a year in taxes that the city wouldn’t otherwise get.
The house, which Karl moved from the east to the west side of Main Street, was likely built by an early clockmaker. It has been the home of many prominent Bristol residents, including 19th century notables Titus Roberts, Elisha Brewster, Joseph Camp, David Hawley and Dr. Roswell Hawley and his widow Jane Hawley.More recently, noted area artist Glo Sessions lived there growing up.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
39 comments:
The public has the right to know WHO made that call, I would like to know who signed the paper work without letting us know. Please find out and let us know.
Rest assured, we'll find out. But it may be awhile given the weekend, the holiday, and the hoopla over a new administration.
I believe that the building department condemned the structure as unsafe and ordered it demolished. Since I was walking around inside that house a year ago, while Ken Karl was working on its renovation, I'm not sure where that determination came from. But I am no building expert.
I'm a relatively new resident of Bristol. This is what I heard about that place.
The city originally owned the historic house but wanted to knock it down for the new library expansion. The city didn't want to take responibility for their own historic building by incorporating the building into the library expansion plans. They wanted to knock it down.
Ken Karl comes along pays to move the house, and starts working on the house to save it. The city lets him have some land to put the house on across the street, thereby "saving" the historic home.
Is Part 1 correct?
Part 2 - My Questions
A) Over the time that Karl had the house, did any community group have a fundraiser for this individul to help him save this historic home or assist him in any way?
Did the city initially check to see if the house was properly stabilized?
B) Didn't the city screen this individual for his financial ability to sustain a preservation effort? Did the city assist him in finding grant funds?
C) Why doesn't the city itself take care of its own the historic buildings rather than demolishing them or pawning them off to others?
Just curious about the preservation efforts of this city?
E) Is there an Historic Society in Bristol? Is it's mission to just collect and store artifacts for museum displays and to show old pictures and tell stories ?
Or does it involve itself in preservation efforts for the community's historic buildings and architectural heritage?
Here's another older story that relates to the house:
Friday, September 22, 2006
BRISTOL – Two years ago, Plymouth developer Ken Karl scrambled to move the oldest house on Main Street out of the way so the city could begin its $12 million library expansion without knocking down the 186-year-old, Federal-style structure.
After convincing the city to sell him the house for $1 – and to give him an empty lot for it on the western side of Main Street – Karl put the house on rollers and scooted it about 100 yards to its new location.
Karl said at the time that he would put the house on a new foundation and then figure out how best to use it, perhaps for non-profit organization offices or possibly for a fiddlers’ museum.
“I was more interested in saving a building than in building an empire,” Karl said recently.
Though Karl has made steady, if unspectacular, progress in overhauling the historic house, city officials have griped almost since the time he moved it that he’s going too slow.
“This gentleman has definitely not lived up to his end of the agreement. His initiative left a lot to be desired,” said city Councilor Art Ward.
Some city leaders want to crack down on Karl, potentially even snatching ownership of the 313 Main St. house and lot back from him.
“I would like to bring this to a head,” said city Councilor Frank Nicastro, who heads the city’s Real Estate Committee.
But Karl said he’s still working to bring the house back to its former glory. He pointed out that he’s making faster progress on the house than the city is making on the downtown mall that it purchased a year and a half ago.
“I have a million ideas for this,” Karl said as he stood inside beside a pile of lumber.
Karl said he’s short of cash for his project, but is working at it regularly and making steady improvements.
The city, he complained, has expressed second thoughts about selling him the house “from second one” and hasn’t done much to lend him a hand despite its professed commitment to enhancing the downtown and Federal Hill areas.
City officials insist that Karl hasn’t done enough to fix up – and clean up – the property. They said their may be others who could do more with it on a more acceptable timetable.
But it’s unclear whether the city has any legal standing to take back the house or property at this point.
Karl said it belongs to him and pointed to the $1,800 a year in property taxes he’s shelling out for it now. The assessed value of the house has quadrupled since he took it, he said, rising from $22,000 to $88,000.
He said he can’t figure out why the city focuses so much attention on him or why any of its officials would contemplate trying to regain possession of a house they didn’t want to begin with.
Karl said he’ll find a better use for it than letting it sit empty.
He said, for example, he’s been approached about the possibility of turning it into a restaurant. The property is zoned residential, however, so it’s unclear whether a restaurant could open on the site.
It appears that hopes of turning it into a permanent home for the Bristol Old Tyme Fiddlers Club and accompanying museum are unlikely to come to fruition. The club doesn’t have enough money, Karl said, though it may use the basement when all is said and done.
The house, likely built by an early clockmaker, has been the home of many prominent Bristol residents, including 19th century notables Titus Roberts, Elisha Brewster, Joseph Camp, David Hawley and Dr. Roswell Hawley and his widow Jane Hawley.
Roswell Hawley was a son of Joseph Roswell Hawley, a prominent Civil War general and publisher of the Hartford Courant.
More recently, noted area artist Glo Sessions lived there growing up.
Karl said that he is getting support from neighbors on Federal Hill and even from many city employees.
But city councilors, he said, just can’t seem to leave him alone.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
BRISTOL – Back on July 12, Plymouth developer Ken Karl loaded the oldest house on Main Street onto a flatbed and hauled it across the road so that it wouldn’t need to be torn down as part of the $12 million library expansion project.
Ever since, the 184-year-old Greek Revival house has been sitting up on blocks like an old car in a mechanic’s back yard.
“I’m afraid it’s just going to be an eyesore,” said city Councilor Tom Lavigne.
Worried that the house might pose a hazard if it remains on blocks, councilors plan this month to require that Karl build a foundation and anchor the house no later than November 12.
When Karl protested that it didn’t offer him enough time to get land use approvals for his plans to house a fiddling museum in the building, councilors told him to pretend it is going to be a single family home that doesn’t require a green light from planners and zoning commissioners.
“Let’s pretend it’s a house,” said city Councilor Craig Minor, town planner for Cromwell. “That’s the legal fiction.”
Karl said he didn’t know if he could get a variance later that would allow him to convert a house into a museum on the 313 Main St. He said he preferred to get approval ahead of time.
“I’m trying to save a building,” Karl said.
Deputy Mayor Art Ward said that Karl was running out of time.
“I’m trying to save Main Street,” Ward said. “I want that thing dropped down” onto a foundation soon, he said.
“We can’t have a house on stilts,” said Jeff Steeg, an assistant city attorney.
Karl said he is disappointed at the city’s unwillingness to offer him more time to lay the groundwork for a museum that could provide a new Federal Hill attraction.
He said he hoped the city would allow him to have the property at 321 Main St. – currently being used by the library construction contractor – so that he could have proper parking and an outdoor performance area.
“This is a community project,” Karl said.
But the city’s Real Estate Committee rejected the idea of offering Karl any more land for his project. Members said that Karl needs to put the house on a foundation as promised and show that he can be trusted to do what he says.
Lavigne said he doesn’t doubt that Karl has good intentions “but he doesn’t appear to be a man of his word.”
Karl said he’s done his best to meet city-imposed deadlines but doesn’t understand the rush now.
“We don’t have to pretend that anything happens at light speed,” Karl said.
He said that the old Titus Roberts house is “pretty worthless” as a single family home but it offers great potential for a Bristol Olde Tyme Fiddlers Museum and Performance Center.
Karl said he’s been getting a tremendous response to his plan.
“It got bigger and bigger and bigger,” Karl said. “It has really taken off.”
It isn’t clear what will happen if Karl misses the deadline.
He owns the house and the lot on which it rests. But his contract with the city requires he have the house on a foundation within120 days of its move to the west side of Main Street.
Officials said they could perhaps send the building department or Blight Committee to target Karl if the deadline passes.
In recent days, Karl has slapped some cheap vinyl over the building to protect and preserve it.
“I apologize to all the real siders in America,” Karl said. “But it does look a lot better.”
He said he put $600 worth of siding on the building because it was the cheapest way to get it covered up.
“It’s temporary,” Karl said.
Monday, March 08, 2004
BRISTOL – If everything goes according to plan, there’s going to be quite a spectacle on Main Street sometime this spring.
The historic house at 308 Main St. is going to be picked up and hauled from the east side of the road, where it’s been for more than 180 years, over to a vacant lot on the west side.
The slow-motion move “should be very easy,” said Plymouth developer Ken Karl, who has until May 1 to complete the operation.
City leaders and Karl cut a deal Monday to give him an extra $25,000 to help pay for the project. The house will be deposited on a city-owned lot, where it will be put on a new foundation this summer.
“Everything sounds very good,” Karl said.
Reaching a deal “was hard. He was a tough negotiator,” city Councilor Craig Minor.
Karl said he anticipates that once the house is successfully moved, it will provide a home for the Bristol Old Tyme Fiddlers Club, which is looking to create a small museum.
As long as the house is used for a private home or for a non-profit entity such as a museum, the city has given its blessing. Karl can’t sell to a commercial enterprise, however, or the city can reclaim the house and property by paying fair market value.
Karl said he’s “ready to go” as soon as a firm hired by the city completes the task of cleaning out asbestos, lead paint and other hazards from the building.
Karl is paying the city $1 for the house and property at 313 Main St. on which to put it.
Karl is paying to demolish modern additions to the house, move it across the street, insure it and obtain required land use permits.
A possible stumbling block was removed when the city agreed to toss in an extra $25,000 to help cover demolition costs. Karl said the city would have to spend the money anyway if he doesn’t move the house.
The city plans to knock down the entire building if Karl can’t move it out of the way of an $11 million library addition project that’s getting underway in June.
Library officials have said they need the space where the house is located for parking once the project gets started. It would remain as a parking area after the addition is completed.
The State Historical Commission pushed for the city to find a way to save the house. It will need to give its blessing to Karl’s plan as well.
Once the state approves the fate of the house, the city can collect a $500,000 grant to help pay for the library project.
If Karl fails to move the house in time, the city will not give him the deed and is likely to tear the house down.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
BRISTOL – Plans are still moving forward to let a private developer haul the Federal-style house at 308 Main St. across the road so that the $10 million library expansion can proceed with requiring the destruction of the 180-year-old house.
City Councilor Joe Wilson said he’s incline to have let the developer move the old house to the city-owned lot at 313 Main St.
Officials said they want the developer, Kenneth Karl of Plymouth, to come up with a site plan that would show how where the house would go and how the driveway and parking could be configured on the site proposed by Wilson.
Wilson said that it may be possible to allow a share driveway between the lot eyed for the house and another city-owned lot next door at 321 Main St., which may be necessary because of the narrow width of the 313 Main St. site.
Karl said he’s game to give it a try. He said he’s sure he can pull off the project once he gets a green light from the city.
City Planner Alan Weiner said that trying to put the house, driveway and parking solely on the 313 Main St. lot may prove too tough because of land use rules that require buildings and driveways to be set back a certain distance from property lines.
If Karl were to use the house as a residence, Weiner said, the lot would likely work out.
But offices require parking spaces and a more solid driveway.
For office space, the lot is so narrow that it “almost makes it infeasible,” Weiner said.
Wilson said that by sharing a driveway, the two city-owned lots could each benefit when both are developed down the road.
For the time being, the 321 Main St. lot is designated as a staging area for equipment needed during the library expansion project.
Officials haven’t said what, if anything, would be done with the 321 Main St. lot once the library is finished in a couple of years.
An assistant city attorney, Jeffrey Steeg, said that Karl needs to give a clearer indication of what he plans to use the house for once it’s moved.
It’s “a very valid point” to know what Karl plans before the city gives him the right to take the house.
“I’m working as hard as I can” to answer that question, Karl said, but at this point it’s hard to say.
“It’s really, really a bad time for us to seek tenants,” Karl said.
He said that he could just move the house and sell it as a residence.
“That house would command a nice price,” Karl said, once it is restored.
The city bought the 308 Main St. property several years ago for about $300,000 and planned to knock down the house to allow for additional library parking.
Karl has offered to buy the old house for $1 and move it to across the street.
The Connecticut Historical Commission is pushing the city to find a way to save the house.
Friday, May 09, 2003
BRISTOL – Over the last 180-odd years, a lot of people have moved out of the Federal-style house at 308 Main St., but now it’s beginning to look as if it’s time for the house itself to move.
City officials are optimistic that they’ll be able to work out a deal with Kenneth Karl of Plymouth to pick up the historic house and haul it across Main Street in time to allow a $10 million library expansion project to get underway on schedule.
Two veteran city councilors – Democrats Gerard Couture and Joe Wilson – said this week they want to preserve the house, which is likely the oldest on Main Street.
“We all want to save that building,” Couture said.
The city bought the house several years ago for about $300,000 and planned to knock it down to allow for additional library parking. With the library addition project slated to start in earnest by next spring, the need for the parking is growing.
Karl said that he doesn’t see any problem moving the house in time to let work on the parking lot proceed as long as the city approves the deal.
“It sounds like our timetable is plenty long,” Karl said.
The original fireplace and mantel, stairs and a delicately cared railing, oak flooring and most of its beams and rafters of the old house remain intact. But later additions have marred its outward appearance badly.
Karl said, though, that he doubts the additions actually did all that much damage to the house itself.
“They may not have touched that building structurally at all,” he said.
The additions, Karl said, “are slap-up things” that builders probably just shoved up against the old building, using openings already in place for windows and doors to the degree possible.
He said that 90 percent or more of the original house is likely still there.
Karl has offered to buy the old house and the empty lot at 321 Main St. for $1. He would move the house from the east side of Main Street to the city-owned lot across the street.
After restoring it as much as he reasonably can, he said, he wants to use it as a home for small, non-profit agencies.
The city’s real estate committee asked City Planner Alan Weiner to take a look at Karl’s plan and figure out if putting the house on the 321 Main St. lot would interfere with using the vacant land as a staging area for the library construction project.
Karl said he would prefer to move it directly onto a new foundation at 321 Main St., but could put it on blocks there for years without harming the house. It would require moving it again, however.
Wilson said he likes the concept that Karl is asking to do.
He said that the city should make room for threatened buildings to be moved onto land where they can be preserved for future generations. He said that a number of buildings could eventually be put on the same property to form a small historic area.
The state historical commission is keeping an eye on how the city treats the 308 Main St.
The city can’t knock down the 308 Main St. house unless it can prove that is has no reasonable alternatives.
With Karl’s offer on the table, officials said, they probably could not successfully argue that they should be allowed to demolish the house.
“It’s not a difficult move. There’s no excuse not to do it,” Karl said.
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Thursday, April 24, 2003
BRISTOL – The oldest dwelling on Main Street – a 180-year-old Federal-style house owned by the city – may not get torn down after all.
There are at least two scenarios on the table that would allow the much-modified 308 Main St. house to survive a $10 million library expansion project that calls for its removal.
One possibility is that the house could be plunked down on a different Federal Hill site, perhaps on a city-owned plot across the street. Officials are studying two offers to move the building.
Another option would allow it to remain where it is, if municipal leaders are able to cut a deal to buy the Community Mental Health Associates building at 300 Main St. soon.
In either case, several additions that chopped up the old house to create a network of medical offices would be razed, leaving the remnants of the original house as a starting point for its restoration.
The city bought the old house several years ago for about $300,000 with the intention of knocking it down to make way for additional parking for the main library on High Street. The library’s expansion project includes plans for parking on the 308 Main St. lot where the house currently stands. It’s been empty since the last tenant moved out more than a year ago.
The house still has its original fireplace and mantel, stairs and a delicately cared railing, oak flooring and most of its beams and rafters intact. An architectural historian from Hartford, David Ransom, has said that “a reasonable restoration” is possible, though it could be costly.
Plans to knock down the house were put on hold after the Connecticut Historical Commission told the city it had to make an effort to save it. The house is part of the Federal Hill Historic District and the last remaining original Main Street house.
Officials are trying to speed along the decision about what to do with the old house, probably built by a clockmaker about 1820, because the library project calls for dealing with it early on. The city hopes to secure construction bids for the library addition in September and for work to begin by late fall.
Board of Finance member Chris Ziogas said that negotiations with the mental health office owners are ongoing and it may well be worth holding things up if more time would allow both sides to cut a deal.
If the city buys the mental health office, which is between the library and the historic house, it would tear down the building and put its parking lot closer to the library.
Peter Wells, the library architect, said it is “not a big deal” to reconfigure the parking lot if changes are needed.
But Francine Petosa, the library director, said the parking lot has to be available before construction starts so that staff members and patrons will have somewhere to park.
“You don’t want to give up the better option just because you’re pressed for time,” Ziogas said. If it adds an extra six months to the timeline, he said, that’s fine.
Another potential hitch is that one of the two proposals to move the house, submitted by Kenneth Karl of Plymouth, would move it to another city-owned lot at 321 Main St., perhaps 100 yards away.
“It would get the building off the property” needed for the library project, said city Purchasing Agent Roger Rousseau, but it would move onto the site eyed as a staging area for the construction crews working on the library.
Karl’s plan would have him buy the old house and the empty lot at 321 Main St. for $1. He would move it, restore it and use the building as a home for small, non-profit agencies. Karl also wants $25,000 from the Bristol Development Authority to help pay demolition costs he would incur.
The other proposal for moving it was submitted by Chestnut Oak Co. of West Suffield. It wants $153,000 to prepare the building for the move and build a foundation. It is not looking to take over 321 Main St.
The company has been erecting, dismantling, moving and repairing new and old houses and barns throughout North America since 1987, according to its web site.
Ziogas said that in evaluating the two plans for moving the house, one problem is that officials don’t know what 321 Main St. is worth. Several officials pointed out it is a large lot that backs up onto another city-owned lot on Summer Street.
City Councilor Ellen Zoppo said that she thinks the old house would take up so little space on 321 Main St.’s large lot that it could be moved there and not interfere with construction staging needs.
She said that moving the house across the street would help fill in the historic streetscape again at a minimal cost for City Hall.
The state historical commission has taken an interest in the house’s fate because it is part of a national historic district and the library is using $500,000 of state funds to help with its expansion.
Because there is state money involved, the city must show that it exhausted all reasonable alternatives before knocking down the house.
Given the interest by two developers, as well as the possibility of buying 300 Main St., it may be difficult for the city at this point to raze the old house since alternatives clearly exist.
The city’s real estate committee will consider the issue at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6 in the meeting room on the first floor of City Hall.
The library’s building committee last week urged councilors who serve on the real estate panel to make a swift decision so that the library project is not delayed unnecessarily.
January 11, 2002
BRISTOL -- Following an architectural historian’s tour
of the 308 Main St. building Friday, it’s anything but
clear whether the city should follow through on plans
to tear it down.
Though the 180-year-oldFederal style house has had
several additions that chopped it up to make medical
offices a half century ago, it still has its elaborate fireplace and mantel, original stairs and a delicately carved railing, oak flooring and most of its beams and rafters still in place. David Ransom, an expert from Hartford, said it would be possible to "a reasonable restoration" of the house but the cost could be "enormous." He said that "chances are that the framework" of the house remains and is "reasonably stable except that the bottom of the front section is gone, torn away about 50 years ago as part of the construction that added a slew of medical offices to the historic structure. Cheryl Barb, a local preservationist who joined Ransom and city officials on the tour, said the city should give up plans to knock the building down and focus instead on restoring the original house. The city bought the property several years with the intention of razing the building to increase available parking for the library on High Street. But preservationists recently raised objections after learning the demolition could come soon. With a push from Councilor Ellen Zoppo, Mayor Frank Nicastro agreed to hire Ransom to assess the building’s condition and history. He said his report will pretty much duplicate what he told officials during the walk-through Friday. He will not, he said, make recommendations about what course the city should pursue. Barb, whose work has led to federal historic designations for many buildings in town, said there shouldn’t be any doubt the house deserves preservation. She said her research indicates that a slew of prominent Bristol residents have lived in the house, including 19th century notables Titus Roberts, Elisha Brewster, Joseph Camp, David Hawley and Dr. Roswell Hawley and his widow Jane Hawley. Roswell Hawley was apparently a son of Joseph Roswell Hawley, a prominent Civil War general and publisher of the Hartford Courant. Ransom that gives him "a sort of claim to fame by association." Ransom, who will detail his findings about the house in a report to the city next week, said it was probably built by a clockmaker about 1920. He said the house had two stories, with a portico entrance and probably a rear section that is completely gone today. He said the house stayed pretty much intact until about 1950 when ‘it began to get altered and enlarged." What happened is a little unclear but medical offices were added in front, a nice apartment installed in the rear and some 4,000 square feet of office space was put in a basement area that was constructed around the original stone cellar -- without connecting to the old section anywhere. Ransom said the Federal style fireplace and mantel "are quite elaborate and well done." "If this place gets torn down, somebody should grab it," he said. The stair railing, too, is "a handsome piece of work," Ransom said. "The railing is gorgeous," said Harriet Lorenz, who’s second in command at the library. The attic and cellar section, which Barb and Ransom explored with a flashlight, are mostly original as well. Peering into dark corners in the basement, Barb said, "The stone stuff’s interesting." Both Ransom and Barb said there are many hand-hewn beams intact and the flooring is also original in at least some parts of the house. The city is unlikely to make a final decision on the house until at least February. Officials are eyeing the possibility of buying the Community Mental Health Associates building between the library and 308 Main to help make a $10 million library addition work out better. They said they may wait to see what happens with the 300 Main St. property before resolving the fate of the house the city owns next door.
Friday, January 4, 2002
BRISTOL – Before knocking down a Greek Revival house uphill from the library, city leaders said last week, they will hire an expert to assess its historical and architectural value.
Councilor Ellen Zoppo said she asked colleagues to support asking an expert to examine the city-owned building at 308 Main St. and its history – and she got plenty of backing for the idea.
“The city should hold itself as the standard,” said Zoppo, who’s active with the Federal Hill Association and touted historic preservation during her recent campaign.
Mayor Frank Nicastro said he would go along with bringing in an outside expert “to take a look” at the house, but he said he was frustrated that nobody raised the issue earlier.
The mayor said the city purchased a former dental office – which included the old house as part of its structure – with the widely publicized intention of knocking it down to make way for extra library parking.
“That’s pure fact,” Nicastro said.
He said the Board of Finance and city councilors would never have gone along with spending $300,000 or so for the property several years ago if they’d had any inkling the house might have to remain.
Nicastro said the house, where an early clockmaking family apparently lived, is “a mess” because of all the changes made over the years. The office housed a juvenile court before the dentist moved in, he said.
Both Zoppo and Councilor Joe Wilson said the city needs to pay more attention to historic preservation issues.
Wilson said city leaders need to sit down with preservationists in town “and plan with them how we approach these properties” to make sure that important historical buildings are saved whenever possible.
“It’s all part of good city planning,” he said.
Preservationists have been sharply critical of the spate of demolitions that have cleared away some old buildings, remodeled others badly and put still others in the middle of heated controversy.
Last summer, for example, the Bristol Housing Authority razed the 215-year-old Mark Lewis house on Jerome Avenue to clear the way for a new administrative office.
City Hall came under fire as well for reconstructing the bathhouse roof at Rockwell Park in a historically improper.
Zoppo said that more people need to be involved in the decision-making process when it comes to projects involving older buildings.
If preservationists are involved from the start – and uninvolved outside experts are called in to settle the facts – then there should be less controversy, she said.
At this point, Zoppo said, there’s no way to know if the Main Street house is worth saving.
“We are not the experts,” she said.
Creating a process that guarantees expert involvement, she said, would “remove some of the emotion from the process.”
Zoppo said he also plans to seek to a broader distribution of demolition notices so that more community activists will have a chance to review and potentially delay plans to raze important buildings.
She said groups such as the Federal Hill Association and the Bristol Historical Society should receive notices so they would have more opportunity to step in.
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
BRISTOL – A historic Main Street home, owned by the city, may be demolished to clear the way for extra library parking.
A final decision on the fate of the 308 Main St. house – located behind a former dental office that was added on later – has not been reached.
But officials at City Hall have been preparing paperwork and getting ready to move ahead with razing the Greek Revival house as soon as Mayor Frank Nicastro gives the word.
For now, though, the house “is just sitting there” and the decision is on hold, said Mike Parks, the Bristol Development Authority official who is looking out for the property.
The house, which has been chopped up inside to make apartments over the years, is about 190 years old and is part of the Federal Hill Historic District. Little is known about who lived there over the years or how much of the original structure remains, local preservationists said.
But Cheryl Barb and Steve Coan, who are active in the effort to save old buildings in town, said the city should hire an expert who can assess the value of the house and figure out if it is worth preserving.
Coan said he’s heard that the Sessions family, which played a crucial role in the city’s early history, once lived in “the not very big house” but he doesn’t have solid information about it.
Coan said the little white structure is “one of the few Greek Revival houses that survived the building boom of the Victorian era. At one time, Main Street was littered with these houses. They were everywhere.”
But by the 1890s, in the wake of a building boom funded by the success of the clock making industry in town, nearly all of the Greek Revival and Federal style houses that had stood all over Federal Hill and downtown were gone, Coan said.
There is only one other building from the same period left on Main Street, he said, but the city-owned house is probably the oldest. It can be seen in some of the earliest photographs of the area, he said, dating from the mid-19th century.
Coan said there have been three or four additions over the years and the house has been “butchered up and so on but it seems to be all there.”
Parks said the building is locked up and nearly all of its utilities are turned off.
A tenant rented the home until last summer, Nicastro said recently, but he’s moved on and the city has no intention of leasing out any of the space again.
Public Works Director Ron Smith said last month the building would be torn down soon.
He said recently the garage might be left standing for temporary storage but the small house and attached office would be razed.
But Parks said the plan is on hold while officials negotiate with the owners of the Community Mental Health Associates building that sits between the library and the parking lot at 308 Main St.
If the city purchases the mental health office, officials said, the parking configuration and other plans could be revised as part of the pending $10 million library addition project, slated to get underway next fall.
It is possible the buildings at 308 Main St. – or some portion of them – might be left standing to serve other city needs, Parks said.
After hearing about the potential demolition from a reporter, Barb has sought to rally the preservationists in Bristol to lobby city officials to hire an expert to figure out whether the building should be left standing.
Coan said that he’s confident city leaders will act to save the house once they realize its importance.
“I don’t think it’s going to be in anybody’s way,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any need to tear it down.”
“I can’t imagine the city making a stink about ‘it’s got to come down’ because it would be totally unreasonable to take that house down,” Coan said.
That's nowhere near all the stories that have run on this property, but it's a fair sampling that I think answers most of the questions people may have.
Of course, we still don't have any idea why the city condemned it, how it came to be torn down with no public notice at all, or who made these decisions, or knew about what was going on.
It's not clear at all whether there were other options that were never discussed by anyone in public.
To me, it appears there is a sky high pile of questions remaining and as any open government advocate would agree with, this should never, ever have been done in secret.
It's Art Wards fault!
This action is an appropriate final legacy of the Bill Stortz administration.
Thank you, Steve.
Funny how everyone fought and tried to save the Norton house, but I haven't heard anything over the years about this house beign saved with public help or historical society support. If you ask me, this home was much more important and significant than the Norton house at Lake Coumpounce was. It should have been saved. Just shows our government could care less about preserving our history in a proper manner.
I remember when this came up for a vote at the Council meeting - the vote was to determine if Ken Karl should get the house / property or not.
Couture was the only one that voted NO.
I guess the rest of the council should have followed suit on that one.
The guy blew a lot of hot air about what he was able to do with the house and property. Couture dug up information that proved that Karl was not qualified nor financially equipt to do what he said he was going to do. The information Couture received also proved that Karl has fail with other projects similar to this one in the past.
HEY STEVE -- If you want the truth on this guy and how he fooled the City Council - go see Couture. He'll fill you in.
Where was the Historical Society? Were they notified?
Doesn't councilwoman Zoppo work for the Historic Society?
No, Zoppo doesn't work there anymore. Her job was filling out paperwork to apply for grants. But Zoning chair Frank Johnson has been the top guy at the Historical Society for a long time and is still one of the top guys. Yet in recent years while Johnson has been chair of Zoning and head of the Historical Society, there have been several historic structures demolished, in addition to the old fashioned buildings on Main St. who's demolition Johnson pushed through as Zoning chair to make room for Walgreens. Those buildings weren't historic but they were some of the last pieces left over from old Main St. that we all loved, and Johnson rewarded the landlord for letting them turn into ratholes by pushing through the Walgreens even though in order for it to conform to regulations they had to bend the rules big time and even break some of the zoning rules.
Frank Johnson is one of the most overrated public officials I've ever seen in Bristol. But he makes jokes and pals around with the boys, and that keeps him popular.
That was a deal that was originally screwed up during Nicastro's administration.
In reality, nothing couyld have saved it after the initial fiasco.
This has Stortz written all over it...
His final screw you to Bristol. Hopefully he moves out of town
Pretty soon the Stortz bashers will charge him with causing the sub prime mortgage problem.
The Ken Karl issue started under Nicastro, and Zoppo was a keyplayer.
Stortz inherited it, whatever it was.
To be torn down, it had to be condemned: that is a building department decision, requires notice etc.
Seems like you guys are really stretching to lay blame.
Zoppo DOES work for the Historical Society and Frank Johnson is one of the most PRAGMATIC appointed officials we hve had in awhile and don't forget about the saves - the clockmakers houses in Forestville in particular. They fought other fights too that I can't recall, and I think they got involved in the North Main Street corner demolition. Stop trashing people who are willing to volunteer and have done a lo tof good in the town. GET OVER THE WALGREEN WINDOWS. Its better than the rathole that was there.
With her new job at the Family Center, Zoppo is no longer employed by the Historical Society, anything she does for them is going to be voluntary.
Since when is caving in to businesses and allowing development of property without regard to reprecussions "pragmatic"?
Is doing an end-run around the city building inspector in favor of the developer "pragmatic"?
Is ignoring the City planner's concerns about safety and traffic in favor of making the developer happy being "pragmatic"?
It's not about Walgreens windows, the issue is much larger. Johnson has a history of favoring developers. The city regulations require businesses in that part of town to be two-story, first floor business, second floor mixed residential I think. Johnson and the Zoning COmmission flagrantly empowered the developer to play games with the site plan and create a fake second floor to give the impression of compliance with regulations. The stuff about the windows and the secret meetings is in addition to this. The Zoning Commission is supposed to protect the public interest first, not the developers. Now that he chairs the Mall Committee, we'll probably see more of the same. Maybe if Frank Johnson took his true responsibility more seriously we would not have as big of a traffic mess on Rt. 6. But he kept favoring developers. Yet somehow Roger Michele gets blamed for this, even though he had no power to do anything about it.
Any suggestion that Ellen Zoppo is somehow responsible for the Main St. demolition by failing in her job with the Historical Society is ridiculous.I'm sure if Frank Johnson wanted to he could have tried intervening with the Main St. house, who knows how effective he would be, with all the demolition of historic buildings in recent time. But he might have been too busy this week thinking about new jokes to share with Art Ward and what they might be serving for tomorrow's swearing in ceremony.
What we have witnessed is cruel and unusual town politics along with unreasonable demands on the developer throughout the years from inept "officials". . .
The result of this is that Bristol has lost a wonderful historic building. That is the sad sad truth.
Those responsible should be ashamed of themselves.
If it wasn't for Steve and his wife reporting in The Bristol Press on the threatened historical structures in town over the years, we'd never know all the loss. We probably still don't, since they can't know and report everything.
It was their stories that drew attention to George Carpenter's houses in Forestville. Let's give credit where credit is due. It wasn't Frank Johnson. And let's remember, there were FIVE old houses in all and two were saved. The others bit the dust.
(That was Tom O'Brien's genius, too, by the way, and he wasn't wanting it made public, either, just wanted the buildings to come down without anyone knowing before it was too late.)
Johnson had plenty to say (though he didn't DO much) about the Norton house, and Ken Karl tried to save it, too. So did others.
For what it's worth, the Norton family itself didn't bother protesting, only Stretch.
Art Ward has never shown a big interest in preserving history, but he also hasn't been frothing at the mouth to tear stuff down, either. (Both Nicastro and Couture are guilty of that.)
Ellen Zoppo is most baffling, (some would say hypocritical) since she works for the historical society and trys to act like some kind of guardian of history. But she jumped on the Norton house bandwagon only when there was popular support and didn't lift a finger on the Forestville houses, all the demolition on Federal Hill or the others in town, most recently the 200-plus year old farmhouse on Farmington Avenue that was smashed to bits for a Taco Bell.
Bristol's got quite a legacy, all right. It's all in the history books (the newspaper) and rapidly disappearing from real life.
Any saving of historic property in town has been the work of a few private operators/landlords. One is appraiser Jim Calciano and another, whose name escapes me at the moment, has fixed up quite a bit of property on Federal Hill.
Frank Johnson is a big shot at the historical society, but he's not the president anymore. That job belongs to Tyrone Mellon.
Frank Johnson never saved nothing. All he's done is flap his gums.
If you think the Walgreens windows are ugly, you must LOVE that massive bright red digital time/temperature/toilet paper on sale sign out front on a prominent corner of town. Might as well have ripped down the Elks Club building for all it matters now. Who approves these signs, anyway? That thing is obnoxious and gross.
To Anonymous Poster at 10:20am
While I can't comment on most of your lengthy posting's accurancy.....
I will say that you are TOTALLY incorrect on your statement:
"most recently the 200-plus year old farmhouse on Farmington Avenue that was smashed to bits for a Taco Bell."
That building was saved, it was dismantled for future restoration and re-building.
Oh really, Bob?
Where is this preserved house now?
Will Bristol ever see it again? Will it be part of the city's fabric in the future?
I think NOT.
It was taken apart, sure. With hammers, into tiny pieces, ie. "bits," and hauled off.
Nobody knows where all the pieces are, but if they're ever re-assembled, it will be to profit the guy who got the pile of boards for free from Taco Bell.
He said himself it wouldn't likely end up in Bristol, but probably Vermont or some other place with more taste.
Now we've got the likes of Bob telling us how fabulous it is that this historic home, which is gone forever from Bristol, is "restored" and "preserved."
Get real. Anyone who still lives in Bristol with any sense ought to waste no time and MAKE A RUN FOR THE BORDER!!!
P.S. to Bob,
You shan't doubt what I wrote. I know from whence I speak and it's all documented anyway, just go into the Press archives if you don't believe me. You just weren't around for most of it and so, as a newbie in Bristol, you don't see the pattern. Maybe if you kept your eyes and ears open and paid attention instead of commenting on things you don't know much about, you'd learn something and eventually be able to make an astute comment.
I very much value the fabric that homes and buildings give to our Community.
I also value the fabric that ACTIVE citizens and volunteers give to our Community.
Very soon after moving into Bristol in December 2005, I sat through lengthy meetings about the Gad Norton homestead.
Much to my dismay, many people complained about the impending demolition, but fewer than a handful of those people stood up to volunteer to save the house or do anything other than complain about the impending demolition.
Everyone always wants someone else to do this or someone else to do that, but very few people stand up to be counted and volunteer to actually make a difference in the community that they live.
I for one believe in being pro-active to make a difference in our Community, hence I volunteered to be on the Bristol Historic District Commission that covers the Overlook District. While we are a commission that is less than 6 months old, each and every volunteer member of our commission is striving to make a difference and preserve the fabric of the Community which we live.
When I spoke about the dismantling of the homestead at the new Taco Bell site, I did not say that the home had been "restored" or "preserved". I also read the articles in the Bristo Press regarding this home, and believe that my statements above holds true.
Taco Bell was willing for anyone in Bristol to deal with the home. When no one stepped forward someone from out of state did dismantle it and yes, you are correct, as the paper stated the house will probably be re-built elsewhere other than Bristol.
The original comment at 10:20 that "most recently the 200-plus year old farmhouse on Farmington Avenue that was smashed to bits for a Taco Bell." is misleading to the discussion.
I would challenge the poster at 12:11 & 12:14 to identify themself and tell us all what they actively do to help preserve the buildings in our City that add to the fabric of our community.....
I would challenge Bob to stop thinking he's the last word on everything. And for various reasons that you wouldn't understand, I cannot identify myself. But I have done quite a bit.
is this person Ken Karl?
Who ignored the City....ignored the Certified letter he received???
Sounds to me that this person is using Bob as a scape goat for their inability to identify themselves.
One Comment....
LAME EXCUSE......
Anonymous said...
........And for various reasons that you wouldn't understand, I cannot identify myself. But I have done quite a bit.
November 12, 2007 5:43 PM
Typical city of bristol citizens. They don't give a crap, didn't even realize it existed and gripe up and down and holler to the rafters after it's town down. Where were you before it was torn down? Where was your disgust at the fact that this man chose to do nothing with this building for three years until the city threatened to do something about it? Why don't those who really care start showing it way before the ax has fallen. It's the same attitude with the schools, and it's the same attitude with Roberts Property. This last minute caring about Bristol is ridiculous!
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