Date: Fri 14-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Historic-House-Survey

Full Text:

A Survey Of Newtown's Historic And Old Houses

A survey of Newtown's historic and old houses, commissioned by the Newtown

Historical Society, has been completed and will be presented at a public

meeting at 8 pm on Monday, March 24, in the Meeting House on Main Street.

Rose-Marie Ballard, an architectural historian who was hired as the consultant

to conduct the Architectural Resource Survey, will present the program.

"She will walk those attending through the highways and byways of Newtown and

reveal much obvious and many hidden architectural treasures throughout town,"

said Mae S. Schmidle, chairman of the Architectural Survey Committee, which

was created by the historical society to coordinate the project.

The survey was intended as an inventory of the buildings and an attempt to

establish their historical significance, including an approximate date of

construction.

At the meeting Ms Ballard will present a brief history of Newtown including

the pre-European settlement period, the 1667-1724 settlement, Newtown as a

colonial and early New England town, 19th century industrial expansion and

20th century Newtown.

She also will show slides of houses depicting the kinds and styles of

architecture representative of Newtown: Colonial, Greek Revival, Gothic

Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Stick Style, Queen Anne, Shingle Style,

Colonial Revival, Craftsman Style and Tudor Revival.

The survey includes an inventory of 371 houses, buildings and sites, each with

a detailed description of the property and comments on the historical or

architectural significance. It includes 188 buildings constructed before 1945

in the Borough of Newtown and 183 buildings constructed generally before 1826

in the rest of town, with the exception of the Sandy Hook village center area.

The report recommends that 88 buildings in Sandy Hook be inventoried and that

a National Register nomination be prepared for the village because it is

"significant both historically and architecturally for its importance during

the 19th Century industrial development of Newtown."

Further research also may show potential National Register District

nominations for the Hawleyville, Dodgingtown, Berkshire, Huntingtown and Cold

Spring areas, the report said.

The survey was financed by the Connecticut Historical Commission with federal

funds from the National Park Service of the US Department of Interior, with

additional funding from the Town of Newtown, the Newtown Historical Society

and private donations. The town's share was a $5,000 appropriation which was

used to secure a matching federal/state grant. An additional $4,000 grant was

made later by the state historical commission.

Ms Ballard began the project with a drive-by survey of 515 potentially

historic structures, of which 13 clearly were not eligible, 330 were eligible

and another 172 were questionable.

"To be eligible, a building must be historically intact," she said at the

time. "It must not have lost its integrity. I look for items such as

fenestration, decorative elements, siding, additions. It may be a 17th century

structure but if it has been dramatically altered, it will not be eligible."

"The decision is not easy," she admitted. "Many retain some integrity but have

been altered significantly in the past."

The project, as completed, includes a 50-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 members of the architectural survey committee besides Mae Schmidle

included Newtown Historical Society President Sallie Meffert, Town Historian

Daniel Cruson, Kris Atwood, Anne Ragusa, Barnes Reed, Tammara McMahon, John

Madzula and John Smith.