1712 Sanford House Given Historic Designation

By Andrew Gorosko

The Connecticut Historical Commission has placed the 1712 Samuel Sanford House at 68 Church Hill Road on the State Register of Historic Places, a move which will require state highway planners to thoroughly consider how a planned reconstruction of the adjacent Exit 10 interchange of Interstate 84 would affect the historic property.

Historical commission staff member John Herzan said Tuesday commission members at their February 7 meeting unanimously approved placing the 1.5-acre property, which includes the house and several outbuildings, on the historic register.

The property's register status will be a definite factor in the state Department of Transportation's (DOT) planning for the reconfiguration of I-84 and the Exit 10 interchange, he said.

Mr Herzan said he believes the property would qualify for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

"Connecticut is blessed by having quite a bit of Colonial architecture left," Mr Herzan said.

Faith Gulick, the owner of 68 Church Hill Road, Monday expressed happiness at her property's new status. She said she has contacted an architectural preservationist about possibly pursuing national register status for the property.

That preservationist, Paul Graney, prepared a report on the historical significance of Ms Gulick's property, which was considered by the Connecticut Historical Commission in reviewing her application for placement on the State Register of Historic Places.

Jonathan Chew, executive director of Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), said now that Ms Gulick's property has been placed on the state register, DOT planners will have to thoroughly consider the property's historic significance in considering I-84 improvements.

"They have to take that seriously. It is a real factor," Mr Chew said. "They'll have to take pause" in considering the implications of highway improvements on the Gulick property, he said. Historic register status makes for "an extra level of review and scrutiny," he said.

HVCEO is the regional transportation planning agency for a 10-town region of which Newtown is a member.

Mr Chew said actual physical improvements to I-84 in Newtown are still an undetermined number of years away. The state lists making I-84 improvements in Danbury as a higher priority than making improvements in Newtown.

Proposed long-term improvements for the Exit 10 interchange include building a new gently curved I-84 westbound off-ramp on the south side of Church Hill Road, immediately to the west of the Sanford house, to replace the existing sharply hooked westbound off-ramp on the north side of Church Hill Road.

As part of a long-term project to improve traffic flow on I-84 between the Housatonic River and New York State, the DOT last year completed a basic study describing how $268 million worth of improvements would be made to the mainline of I-84 and to the interchanges along it.

Last June, when DOT planners publicly described their ideas on improving I-84, including changing the configuration of the Exit 10 interchange, Ms Gulick registered her concerns about the project, stressing her desire to protect her historic property from change in the face of the highway reconstruction. Ms Gulick's family moved to the house in 1957.

In his study of the Sanford house, Mr Graney wrote that the house is an architecturally significant, excellent example of Colonial-era building practices. It also is significant how its later owners architecturally adapted the house to their particular needs, he adds.

The 1.5-acre property at 68 Church Hill Road includes a white post-and-beam center-chimney Colonial house, a barn complex, a carriage shed, and a corncrib.

Five generations of the Sanford family lived in the house while becoming influential Sandy Hook businessmen, according to Mr Graney.

Being on the register identifies a building and site as being historically significant and encourages their preservation. It also enables state agencies to fully consider the significance of such properties in the early stages of planning projects such as highway reconstruction projects.

Being on the register, however, does not prevent such highway reconstruction projects.