Couple Works Hard To Reclaim An Old Tavern As Their New Home

By Jan Howard

For three years Phil and Debbie Clark were looking for land on which to build a house. But a suggestion by their realtor, Patti Meyer, led them to the house that will soon become their home, following some demolition and a great deal of renovation and restoration.

“She suggested we look at this house,” Mr Clark said. “She felt as an architect I would appreciate it. We walked around the property and in the front door and said, ‘We’ll take it.’

“We originally bought it for the land,” he said, “but we fell in love with the house when we got into it.”

Mr Clark is part owner with Mike Grise of Brookfield of Claris Construction, a Bridgeport company that will be moving to Newtown.

Mrs Clark was attracted at first by the French doors and high ceilings inside the house. Her husband, she noted, “always likes the character of a house.”

“It sat on the market for years, but we could picture what it needed,” Mr Clark said.

“It needed help,” Mrs Clark said. “I was a little overwhelmed.”

There was a wrinkle, however; the price. “If we got it for our price, then we would have the money to renovate,” he said. “We knew it would cost a lot to fix.” The house sold for $465,000, which he said left some funds for the work that needed to be done on the house.

He admitted the house renovations are not costing him as much as they might someone else. “I’m calling in favors that were ever owed me,” he said.

Mr and Mrs Clark have been married for seven years and have one son, Jack, 2½. Mr Clark is formerly from Scranton, Penn., and met Mrs Clark, a resident of Danbury, when he was in the area on a job. They previously lived in Trumbull but are renting in Newtown while awaiting completion of the work on their new home.

They closed on the house late in June and expect to move in November 30, in time to have their first celebration in the grand old house, Jack’s third birthday.

The house, located on the corner of Currituck and Academy roads, was once known as Sunset Tavern. Clarence Naramore opened Sunset Tavern in November 1929 to serve colonial style meals in addition to providing an occasional room. The inn had a colonial atmosphere that fitted the 18th Century structure. Mr Naramore, however, needed more space for dining so he added sun porches on the north and south sides of the building, which could accommodate 30 additional diners each. At its height, the tavern could serve 250 diners at the same time. Mr Naramore died in 1941, and in October of 1959 Mrs Naramore sold Sunset Tavern.

As an architect and builder, Mr Clark knew he was taking on a big job in renovating the house, parts of which were built in 1712. It was rebuilt in 1790 and renovated in 1929, when the four-season sun porches were added. 

“We want to bring parts of it back to what it was,” Mr Clark said.

At first, Mr Clark felt he would renovate only half the house. However, he said, “Once I got into it, I knew I had to renovate all the rest of the house.”

“We knew it was going to be a lot of work,” Mrs Clark said. “He was calling it the money pit. I was calling it the white elephant. Jack calls it the broken house.”

Despite the house’s problems, its post and beam construction is sturdy, constructed of chestnut wood throughout with pine and oak floors. It has a large stone basement. “This house is a rock,” Mr Clark said.

He believes the person who built it was probably well off for the time. “It has high ceilings and is well put together,” he said.

 “My goal is to keep some parts as authentic as possible,” he said. Some areas are expected to keep their colonial atmosphere, such as the keeping room and the front room. “We’re trying to bring it back to what it was,” Mr Clark said of the keeping room.

The room’s fireplace had pine trim, which has been removed, and the masonry is being redone.

Mrs Clark said her husband always wanted to live on Main Street in Newtown. Well, it’s not on Main Street, but it’s just around the corner.

No interesting artifacts have been found during the restoration/renovation, Mr Clark said, noting items from the house’s early years were probably either discovered or destroyed in prior renovations.

Work has been ongoing since the closing. The former kitchen wing in the rear of the building was demolished and a new kitchen/dining room is being constructed with a two-car garage underneath. Some sections of the second floor were also demolished for larger bedrooms.

“There were eight tiny bedrooms,” Mr Clark explained. There are now three bedrooms plus a master bedroom suite, which includes a bedroom, sitting room, bath, and two walk-in closets. Mr Clark said he had to reinforce the floors for the master bath. The laundry room is on the second floor, which is convenient.

Much of the carpentry work is being done by Jan Jakubcak of Danbury. “He treats the house like his own house,” Mr Clark said.

The house was never insulated, he said, so insulation was blown in from the outside. He has also exposed old beams and fireplaces that had been covered during former renovations. There will be six fireplaces in the house, counting one that is yet to be constructed in the new kitchen/dining room. The floors are being redone. The cedar roof is new, perhaps about two or three years old, Mr Clark said.

Outside, a stonewall with a picket fence will be constructed including an arbor with a gate.

There will be many modern conveniences in the house. Already installed and operating is an alarm system and a fire sprinkler system is planned for the bedrooms.

Electrical and plumbing upgrades are being made as well as installation of an innovative heating/cooling system rarely used in private homes. The house will be heated through a geothermal system “that is environmentally friendly,” Mr Clark said.

The system, which includes the drilling of a 760-foot well, would look like a forced air heating system, he said, “but the fuel source is the earth.” The technology has been around for 30 years, but used mostly in commercial buildings because the initial installation cost is much higher than more traditional heating/air conditioning systems for homes.

“Pay back should be in five to seven years,” Mr Clark said. He designed the system with Bob Leone, a friend who is an engineer, of Light House Mechanical in East Haven.

 He said, “My goal is never to pay another oil bill again.”