Date: Fri 29-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Newtown-Savings-Bank-parsonage

Full Text:

Making Way For More Banking On Main Street

(with cut)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The piece-by-piece destruction of the old Congregational Church parsonage on

Main Street started this week as the Newtown Savings Bank expansion project

proceeded.

The bank, which purchased the parsonage and the adjoining church house in

1996, is in the midst of a $3 million site redevelopment plan. When completed

the bank's facilities will be expanded to better consolidate quarters for its

board of directors, accounting section, and operations unit.

As part of the expansion, a replica of the circa 1815 parsonage will be

constructed, according to the bank's president, John Martocci, who added that

the historic character of Main Street will be preserved.

"We obviously need more space. ... We want to consolidate our headquarters,"

Mr Martocci told the Planning & Zoning Commission last year. "We need a

drive-up teller to compete effectively with other banks in town that have a

drive-up teller."

Faced with the need for more space and a desire to stay on Main Street, the

bank bought the Newtown Congregational Church's property at 41-A Main Street

two years ago for $550,000. The 5.38-acre church property included the

13,980-square-foot church house, the deteriorated parsonage, and a small house

at the rear of the property, which was demolished last week.

The new office space in the soon-to-be-renovated church house behind the

parsonage facade will be linked to the bank by a new addition.

The Rev Steve Gordon joined Mr Martocci and Joe Humeston, bank vice president,

for a photo session in front of the parsonage moments before it was to come

down. He admitted to having mixed feelings over the loss of the historic

building.

"There is a tremendous history represented by that house," he said. "Who knows

what toil went into building that house. Did the church have a barn raising?

What sacrifices were made?"

Several ministers lived in the home, including Paul Cullins, who started the

Boy Scouts in Newtown. He lived in the house for 40 years.

On the other hand, Mr Gordon said his sadness is tempered by his openness to

change. The Congregational Church has preliminary plans to construct a church

house of its own adjacent to the church on Castle Hill Road and West Street.

The bank plans to lease the three-story church house on the Main Street site

back to the church for five years with an option for an additional five years,

providing time for the church to build a new church house on its property on

West Street.

The old church house, which was built in 1948, then would be used for bank

operations, but it probably also will contain rental office space and a

community room. Currently, the building houses a nursery school and the

Newtown Youth Services offices.

Project architect Don Hughlett said architectural detailing from the existing

parsonage will be salvaged for use in the replicated parsonage. The existing

parsonage is in poor structural condition, he noted. The new structure will

have dual chimneys as did the original building, he added.

The bank will build an elevator and provide an access for the handicapped. The

bank's automatic teller machine will remain where it is now located, facing

Main Street, and the bank's signs will remain where they are, according to Mr

Martocci. When construction is complete, the bank will relocate 15 employees

to its Main Street office.

The existing bank building, which was constructed in 1909, was enlarged in

1935 and renovated in 1963, 1975 and 1987. Mr Martocci said many of the bank's

operations and personnel have been moved to Southbury, Woodbury and the branch

office in the Sand Hill Plaza in the years since 1985 because of lack of space

as the bank's services continued to grow.

"It's extremely inconvenient and expensive for us to be so spread apart," he

said. "This expansion will allow us to bring ... employees back to Main Street

from Southbury ... and add to Newtown's tax base ... because what was [exempt]

church property will be taxed as commercial property," he said.

"The addition will be set back (from the street) and heavily landscaped," Mr

Martocci said. "It will appear to be one-story, but actually is two stories

because of the slope of the property away from the street," he said. The bank

has seven offices: two in Newtown, two in Bethel, plus Monroe, Southbury and

Woodbury.