Gripe Vine Readers:
In a recent column, a reader asked if a house at 525 First Ave. had any historic meaning and because of its condition, will it be demolished?
I had posed your question to my readers and responses were received. In today’s Gripe Vine, a letter is published from Mark J. DeGennaro, local attorney and Jon Purmont, President of the West Haven Historical Society and Bob Grestini, Project Coordinator.
Dear Eleanore Turkington:
In reference to the house demolished at 525 First Ave., the house is listed as built in 1750 on the assessor’s records. There was a plaque on the house with that date. The WPA census of Old Buildings in CT has a circa date of construction 1785 – 1790. First Ave. was a residential area for many of the sea captains that sailed out of West Haven. There are other structures in that area which date from the 1700s.
The original owner was Ebenezer Johnson. After Johnson’s death in 1830, his wife married Anson Clinton II. Clinton died in 1851. The house was sold to Marvin Jeffries, who was reportedly an African-American. In 1869, the house was purchased by the Austin family. Some remember the house as the Austin house. The last Austin to own the house worked for the West Haven Manufacturing Company. The house had other owners since 1916 after the Austins.
According to the CT Historical Commission inventory of historic structures, the house was an architecturally significant example of early 18th-century vernacular design. It had a large central chimney and a steeply pitched side-gabled roof. It represented the typical building tradition from the early Colonial period in West Haven.
West Haven Rotary is sponsoring a historic plaque program in partnership with the West Haven Historical Society. Plaques will be placed on older homes and structures to bring about better recognition of the past and buildings of historical and architectural significance.
Jon Purmont, President, and Bob Grestini,
Project Coordinator, West Haven Historical Society
Dear Eleanore Turkington:
There was a recent inquiry in your column regarding the house at 525 First Avenue.
I have represented the current owner, who purchased the property in July 2014. He purchased it from another builder who had purchased it in February 2014 from a bank.
The bank owned it as a result of a foreclosure against the prior owner.
When my client purchased the house, approval had already been given by the city to knock down the house and build the home that is now being constructed. In fact, the city had issued an order to demolish the building due to its condition. However, because of its age, my client did not act immediately, but instead, took several actions to determine what to do with the building.
First, he had an analysis conducted wherein it was determined that the primary portion of the house was built around 1740. The analysis also showed that there were a few additions made to the house and that changes were made to its windows and other characteristics that lessened the historic nature of the structure. We then contacted the local and state historical societies to see if there was any historical value to the house other than its age and offered the opportunity to them to take portions of the house or make some suggestions as to its use.
Although it was purchased with the intent on demolishing it, the current owner held off for about three years in case there was an interest in preserving the property. None was ever made that we are aware of although local historians did visit the property during that time.
In the meantime, the house continued to deteriorate, was often-times used by vagrants, and was continually broken into despite being periodic actions by the owner to prevent that from happening. The city issued at least one property violation due to its condition, and the neighbors were requesting action be taken by the city based on that, the owner decided to go ahead with the demolition.
So, to answer the inquiry, a considerable amount of thought and effort was given before knocking down such an old building. However, there was no interest from the city, state or historical societies to preserve the building and its condition was such that economically it was not salvageable.
Mark J. DeGennaro,
Attorney at Law,
Coming up..responses from the City on gripes, blowing snow onto city streets..blinking traffic lights, beach conditions, Beach Street progress and much more.
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