By Dave Matlow
In another recognition of preserving Westport’s heritage, Peter and Jackie Spera on Friday received a Westport Historical Society (WHS) plaque adding their 1931-built home at 18 St. John Place to the WHS list of notable Westport homes. But it was not an ordinary ceremony.
Joining in Friday’s ceremony were (l-r) Janet Alley, a friend of Joanne Koeller, Koeller, Bob Weingarten of the WHS, and current owners Peter and Jackie Spera. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
When the Speras purchased the house in December 1999, they did not know that descendants of the original owners currently reside in Westport. But that all changed in September 2010.
That is when Westporter Joanne Koeller, a granddaughter of the original owners, Selleck and Dorothy Warren, her maternal grandparents, stopped by to introduce herself. She had spent much of her youth in the house with her grandmother, who died in 1999 at 103.
Jackie Spera responded by giving her a tour of the house. Subsequently the Speras contacted the WHS to document the origin of the house and to acquire a historic plaque that designates the year the house was built.
So on Friday when Bob Weingarten of the WHS who performed research on the history of the house delivered the plaque, the Speras invited Koeller and other descendants of the Warren family to celebrate the milestone event. Family members joining Koeller included her cousin John Goldhurst and his father Richard.
Jackie and Peter Spera show off a mason jar and plumbing fixture left by Joanne Koeller’s grandmother. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
On a tour of the restored house, led by the Speras, Koeller reminisced of her childhood memories of the preserved house. They included the more than 100 mason jars still stored there that her grandmother used to preserve homemade foods.
Weingarten’s research documentation found that Carrie E. St. John purchased three acres of land with buildings from William Edgar Nash on Oct. 10, 1903, which is the parcel in the current St. John Place area.
Then in 1929, St. John sold a parcel of land to Dorothy and Selleck Warren—identified as Lot No. 36 on a map now known as survey map 329. This property is now known as 18 St. John Place.
In 1931, the home was completed and now, 80 years later, it has attained notoriety with some descendants of the original owners present to enjoy the occasion.
