A Determined Homeowner Makes Plans—

 Landmark Taunton Lane Home Will Rise Again From Fire’s Rubble

By Andrew Gorosko

Standing in a spacious well-lit room at a Hawleyville condominium complex, where he is temporarily living, Charles Speidel, 86, examines a set of architectural drawings.

The plans depict the 7 Taunton Lane house that Mr Speidel and his daughter, Corinne, fled early on the morning of January 28, after discovering the accidental fire which then destroyed the distinctively styled, masonry and clapboard, multi-gabled building.

The house was constructed in 1934. The Speidel family moved into it in 1966. They remodeled and expanded the house in 1990.

Undaunted by the physical destruction that the fire wreaked on the nearly 6,000-square-foot building, Mr Speidel is making plans to recreate the structure that he had called home for 45 years.

“All the stonework, I think will be saved,” Mr Speidel said, noting the house’s extensive masonry walls which still stand amid the ruins of the fire.

The structure planned to replace the house would look the same from Taunton Lane as it had in the past, Mr Speidel said. Interior spaces would be modified.

Mark DiOrio, an insurance consultant working for Mr Speidel, said, “We’re hoping to have demolition completed within a month.” New construction could start this spring, he said.

Mr DiOrio, of Military Housing Adjusters, LLC, of Torrington, said he is helping Mr Speidel document all applicable information needed to submit a thorough insurance claim on the losses suffered in the fire.

“He’s determined to take the proper steps,” Mr DiOrio said.

Mr Speidel has much material to review, including thousands of photographs, during the planning process that is required for recreating the house, Mr DiOrio said.

The Speidels had more than 400 photo albums stored in the house’s basement, Mr DiOrio said. Those albums held thousands of photographs that Mr Speidel had taken over the years.

Besides the architectural plans that were prepared for the building’s 1990 expansion project, Mr Speidel has been reviewing the 1933 blueprints from which the house was constructed in 1934 for Mrs BG Demarest, a sculptor.

Mr Speidel said he hopes that the new house will be completed by next fall.

He explained that a large piano that he had hoped to donate to the Booth Library was heavily damaged in the fire. The musical instrument is now covered by a pile of chest-high fire rubble.

The town has condemned the heavily damaged house. The loss is estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As Mr Speidel spoke of the plans for reconstruction, his daughter Corinne looked on. Their pet Yorkshire terrier, known as Oliver, scampered nearby. Oliver, who is blind, escaped the fire uninjured with the Speidels.

Mr Speidel was one of the four founding partners of Qualitron Corporation. The firm, which produced industrial products for the electronics industry, started business in Newtown about 50 years ago. The company later moved to Danbury. It was sold to Perkin Elmer, Inc in 1984.

Mr Speidel has a large family, with five children, 11 grandchildren, and 12 great- grandchildren. They live across the United States.

Looking ahead to the home-building project, Mr Speidel said, “It’s not going to be difficult. I’ve got great advisors.”

The devastating fire was discovered by Corinne just after 1 am on January 28. Some electrically-powered equipment taht was located in the attic had malfunctioned, catching fire, causing the attic and the roof to ignite, after which the fire spread through the home, destroying it.

Mr Speidel explained that he had been sleeping downstairs and his daughter had been sleeping upstairs when a fire alarm sounded, alerting his daughter of a problem. She spotted smoke and flames in the attic and then woke him, after which they quickly left the burning building with the pet dog.

All five local volunteer fire companies responded to battle the stubborn blaze amid subfreezing temperatures and a heavy snowpack. The blaze proved difficult to extinguish.