Washington Avenue’s Plumbing Shop Landmark—

Luxury Home Developer Pitches In To Pack Up Penovi’s Porcelain

By Shannon Hicks

A number of years ago, a group of entrepreneurs took photos of some familiar landmarks around Newtown and turned them into “Welcome To Newtown” postcards. There were views of Booth Library, the flagpole, different churches, the view from Castle Hill, and even one depicting Al Penovi’s Plumbing Shop on Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook.

The postcard showing Al’s shop was far and away the bestseller of all the available postcards. Anyone with one of those vintage postcards in his or her collection this week can certainly consider it a collectible now that the property had undergone quite a spring cleaning.

Al Penovi’s shop is within an old New England hay and cattle barn that his father, Alfred Penovi Sr, converted for its current use shortly after the family moved from Port Chester, N.Y., to Sandy Hook in the late 1920s. The shop and its front lawn have long been a repository for all things plumbing. There have been toilets and their parts of all shapes, sizes and colors; discontinued parts and pipes, and countless screens, pumps, and fittings on the property that has been in the Penovi family for nearly 85 years.

It has become something of a landmark to drive past the shop and take in the view of porcelain and pipes. Some see it as an eyesore, while others see it as a landmark that has been around for decades. Customers see it as a beacon: It is a place where you can go and chances are you will find a green, pink, yellow or even blue tank cover… something that stopped being made by toilet manufacturers long ago. Similarly, the innards of toilets and other plumbing necessities can still be found inside the shop.

The shop does not have regular hours. Al retired from his 9 to 5 hours years ago, but residents — and even those who are willing to drive from out of town with the hope that he will be around — know that the shop is open if Al’s car (a blue-green station wagon) is in the driveway. Chances are if the car is there, Al is sitting in his swivel chair (perhaps napping…). That is his version of an Open sign.

Recently, however, the Penovi family was contacted by luxury home builder Toll Brothers, who wondered if it would be possible to clean up the property. Toll Brothers recently constructed a 54-unit age-restricted “townhome” community on Oakview Road, near its intersection with Berkshire Road, and some of its residents were not too happy with the prospect of driving past Newtown’s “toilet graveyard” on a regular basis.

The project was proposed “in response to the many complaints we’ve heard from our current residents and from prospective buyers,” Toll Brothers Project Manager Dave Bauer said via e-mail last week.

Last Saturday morning, a crew of three Toll Brothers employees spent about four hours cleaning up the area in front of the plumbing shop as well as the front yard of the shop’s adjacent house.

“[The family] was very appreciative of the help,” Mr Bauer said on April 5, holding daughter Abigail in one arm while overseeing the project. Many cars slowed down as drivers and passengers realized what was happening at the shop, and even a few Regency residents had driven over to see for themselves that the property was in fact being cleaned up.

“The family was happy for the offer, they just wanted to make sure we took care of a few keepsakes,” he continued. Al’s swivel chair was set aside, as were more than 120 tank covers, which were lined up along a shed near the front of the plumbing shop. “The colored tank tops appeal to a lot of people. They still come and look for those,” said Mr Bauer, who worked with Al’s daughter Wendy (Penovi) Craig to coordinate the cleanup. (The Bee was unable to reach Mrs Craig for comment this week.)

A dumpster was quickly filled with tanks, pipes, bins, and everything else the workers came across. The ground was also raked and cleared up before they finished for the day.

 “We don’t just build homes,” Mr Bauer said, “we try to leave our mark and help the community. We do this a lot. We are a company that cares about communities.

“We have a lot of people who are bringing their friends in to see their new home. They love Sandy Hook Center, they just rave about it, but this,” he said, gesturing toward Al’s, “has always been a concern.”

This is not the first time the shop’s front yard has been cleaned up. Mr Penovi worked with local developer Chuck Tilson and Mr Tilson’s brother-in-law Bruce Moulthrop back in August 2001 to do something similar at the property. This was when Mr Tilson was developing Tilson Woods, which uses Pearl Street as its main artery. Pearl Street intersects with Washington Avenue directly across from the plumbing shop, so a similar deal was arranged when that area was being moved into and shown off.

Over the years, however, the toilet tanks and iron pipes began to find their way back to Al and his shop. So hang on to those “Welcome To Newtown” postcards with the infamous view of Al’s plumbing supplies shop. They may depict a scene that will never return to Sandy Hook… or they may recall one that just will not go away.