Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

historic-home-survey-

Full Text:

Consultant Hired For Historic Home Survey

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The Newtown Historical Society's architectural survey committee voted on

Tuesday to award a $7,950 contract to a historic resource consultant to

conduct a survey of 265 homes in Newtown which are believed to pre-date 1825.

Rose-Marie Ballard of Hampton, a consultant in the preservation and

conservation of historic architecture, submitted a bid agreeing to conduct the

survey at a cost of $30 per building, working in conjunction with an

associate, Mary Neustradter of New York City.

"We're really excited," said Sallie Meffert, president of the Newtown

Historical Society. "We believe this project will be a great benefit to the

town."

Only two firms bid on the project. The other, Newport Collaborative

Architects, Inc., of Newport, R.I., submitted a bid of $9,500.

Recently the Legislative Council approved a $5,000 appropriation to secure a

$5,000 matching federal/state grant to conduct the survey which will inventory

the buildings and attempt to establish their historical significance including

the approximate date of construction. According to the terms of the grant

awarded by the State Historical Commission, the project must be completed by

May 1996.

"Both firms had excellent qualifications," said Mae Schmidle, the committee

chairman. "We decided on (Rose-Marie Ballard and her associate) because we

felt their proposal more closely addressed our specifications. We also thought

the project might get more personal attention from a smaller firm. And, of

course, they submitted the lowest bid."

"I thought their proposal was crisp and precise," committee member John Smith

said. "They responded on just about every item we specified. I had no

difficulty checking them off against our criteria."

The committee members expressed some reservations, however, about whether

either firm actually realized the scope of the project.

"This is a massive job," Mr Smith said. "Have any of them been here? Have they

seen Newtown's 60 square miles?"

Mary Mitchell, who with Al Goodrich has photographed most of the historic

structures in town, said the list of buildings purported to pre-date 1825 has

grown to 281 but only 11 have been documented.

"The list just keeps growing," Mrs Meffert said. "It's incredible. Once the

survey is completed, we will have a big thick book plus several other copies

to put at strategic places in town for use by the public."

The project will include a 25-page historical narrative of Newtown, a black

and white photograph and information on each qualifying building, a map,

indexes, slides of at least 10 percent of the properties and an identification

of those which may meet the criteria for inclusion on the National Register of

Historic Places. The project will conclude with a public meeting featuring a

slide show narrated by the consultants.

Mrs Schmidle said that both Ms Ballard and Ms Neustadter have professional

degrees in historic preservation. She said she would contact Ms Ballard, who

is currently on a trip to China, to arrange a meeting in Newtown within the

next few weeks.

The members of the architectural survey committee include Mrs Schmidle, Mrs

Meffert, Dan Cruson, Kris Atwood, Anne Ragusa, Barnes Reed, Tammara McMahon,

John Madzulla and John Smith.