The following is a letter from Mimi Findlay, president of the New Canaan Preservation Alliance. The letter was addressed to Brian Platz, the town's building officer, in advance of a special meeting of the Historical Review Committee, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday.
I am writing with regard to the impending demolition of 45 Richmond Hill Road. I request a hearing before the Historical Review Committee for a demolition delay.
The house at 45 Richmond Hill Road, built in 1823, with its neighbor, No. 39, also owned by Samad Zendehrouh, are the two oldest houses on the street, according to the tax assessors records.
No. 45 is an excellent example of the conservative vernacular center chimney colonial style of architecture that extended well into the 19th century in New Canaan. Furthermore, it has been considered important enough to have been moved two times. The first move was from its site on the southwest corner of Cherry and Main streets in 1910 to make way for the new library. Then it was moved a second time to Richmond Hill in 1950 to clear the way for the Morse Court parking lot.
The first owner of this house was Capt. Stephen Hoyt Jr., one of New Canaans historically significant residents whose influence continued through several generations.
Hoyts father built the house for his son and his bride, Siley Benedict, in 1823. Stephen Sr. was a storekeeper at Main Street and Locust Avenue, later the site of the Big Shop. The son was a captain in the New Canaan militia and one of his early duties was conducting his company to Norwalk to assist in paying honor to the Marquis de Lafayette when he visited the country in 1824.
By 1826, Hoyt bought out his fathers store and formed a partnership with Thomas Seymour Husted, whose property on Park Street backed up to Hoyts property on Main Street. Together they formed New Canaans first real estate development company by laying out Cherry Street and selling off eight or more building lots at $500 an acre. Then they deeded the new highway to the town for 25 cents. Shoemakers soon occupied most of the new houses along Cherry Street. Only Mabel Lambs exists today.
One of the organizers of the Cemetery Association, Hoyt was its president from the beginning until his death. He represented New Canaan in the state legislature in Hartford. In 1839, he sold his share of the general store to Samuel Andros Weed.
His major accomplishment, however, was the establishment of Hoyts Nurseries after he had moved to Carter Street on Clapboard Ridge, feeling that his 10 children could be trained better "in the country. He purchased 163 acres in 1836, the former Shaker Farm, and raised onions and turnips as cash crops to be sold in New York City. In 1848, he formed a partnership with David Scofield, founded the New Canaan Nursery and began propagating fruit trees. It soon became the largest tree nursery in New England. By 1949, it was one of the oldest institutions with unbroken exclusive family ownership in America. As Hoyts Nurseries, it went out of business in 1970.
Hoyts first house, at Cherry and Main streets, was subsequently owned by the Weed family and is marked as such on a map, Circa 1865 New Canaan Businesses.
In 1910, Sherman Weed and his sister, Naomi, sold the property with it historic elms to the New Canaan Reading Room and Circulating Library Corp. It was called the Mary Weed House at the time. Another source says, This house, taken away to make room for the library, was purchased by B.F. Weed and moved across Cherry Street where it is now [1949] still occupied by him. More information about the Weed family occupancy remains to be researched.
In 1950, the Weeds property, near the Birdsall House, was bought by the town to create the Morse Court parking lot. Although the derelict Birdsall House was razed, the old Hoyt house was moved yet again in 1950 to its current site, probably by Anthony Cerretani who owned it that year.
In 1951, Laurence Perry, who had arrived in New Canaan in 1930 and was the supervisor of music in the New Canaan schools, purchased the house. It stayed in the Perry family until 1987, when it was purchased by Samad Zendehrouh, the current owner. He has let the house deteriorate over the past half-decade and now wishes to demolish it.
Considering the story of the distinguished original owner and his entrepreneurial and social contributions to life in New Canaan, this house deserves to be preserved. In addition, this little house bears witness to the history of the development and growth of New Canaan:
As being on the site of the Cherry Street development;
As being on the site of the 1912 Library (when the town was on a building spree re-creating itself as part of the Colonial Revival urban City Beautiful movement); and
As being on the site of the towns wishful solution to its perennial nemesis, the parking problem, by tearing down great Victorian buildings in or near the commercial district.
During a recent Town Council public hearing, I heard a public outcry to preserve the charm and character of New Canaan. No matter which side they supported concerning the Lumberyard study, this was the universal plea. This little house on Richmond Hill Road contributes to the charm and character of New Canaan and should not be demolished. As each one of these early vernacular buildings disappear, the towns charm and character are eroding significantly.
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