Going Down: 10 Compo Parkway

6 thoughts on “Going Down: 10 Compo Parkway”

1. This is truely pathetic.
   How sad i feel for Westport, my former home of 29 years.
   This teardown was a beautiful home.  Why in the world would anyone want to tear it down? And I am sure, will be building a McMansion that surely will be a McUgly.
   Again, another piece of this most beautiful town being distroyed.  Westport surely won’t be looking like a New England town much longer when homes like this are distroyed.  Think the name of the town should be LEVITT-port!!!!
   Rhoda Berke
   Boca Raton, Fl.

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2. Actually, and not necessarily in support of all tear-downs, Levittown was a planned community comprised of many identical cape-cod style houses (“capes”).  These capes are just the sort of house that is being torn down today, rather than being built today (thus the Levitt-port reference is a bit off.)

   Oddly enough (or perhaps it is rather telling) the 1940s capes 9or perhaps “ranches”) you seem to find so appealing were, back in the day, the very housing style that represented excessive uniformity and small-lot overbuilding, just as you feel the newer, unimaginative “big houses” represent today. [Of which there are plenty of in Naples, albeit with a false stucco coating]

   I happen to love old houses, but I would expect the freedom to tear one down and build a nicer home of my own choosing [subject to zoning laws and building codes) if I bought the property. If the old house is that attractive, then the market will respond; if however there are many who want to buy such properties in order to construct a newer house with modern amenities and room sizes, I would suggest that the market has spoken.

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3. This one was even painted Cape Cod Blue!

   Capes are cute, and have always been wonderful starter homes because they are so easy to expand.  It was very typical for the second story to be very small, and perhaps unfinished.  Then a young family might move in, and raise the roof to accommodate a growing family.  After a few years, the not-so-young family would then take the equity earned from the expansion to move up to a bigger house, say a colonial.

   However, the basic footprint of a cape is not compatible with today’s desire for a larger kitchen and elegant bathrooms.  Even a ranch has a better future because of the larger floorplan.  I’ve lived in 2 capes, and they have always been the lowest priced homes on the block (thank goodness!).

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4. I am writing this to both Jack Whittle and Dan Lasley.

   #1 – Did either one of you look at the picture of the house that was knocked down?  And if you did, unless my eyes are going, it was a charming (and I don’t know how big it was) quintessential New England home….disappearing from the Westport landscape at a tremendous pace. Do you honestly think that everyone today is longing for a huge kitchen?  Its very puzzling to me….I don’t know why, most people don’t even cook anymore.  I guess they need the space for the take- out menus that they accumulate!!!!  And bathrooms….now being built as large as a normal sized bedroom.  What is everyone doing in the bathroom that they need ballroom sized rooms to do whatever they do there?
   #2 – everyone cannot afford a 2+ million dollar home.  Young couples starting out wanting to give their children the great education that Westport offers, etc., need to start modestly so in actuality, tearing down these so called “modest” homes, eliminates anyone starting out, to purchase a home in the wonderful Westport community.
   #3- Westport is in no way similar to what Levittown looked like, however, the way things are going, I think it is starting to resemble it with all the new McUgly’s, pretty much looking alike.  to compare a charming New England cape to Levittown is ridiculous.  Remember, bigger is not always better.
   I am not against change but i am against changing the character of a lovely town and once all the authentic homes are gone, walk down the street and you won’t even know you are in Connecticut.  You will be in McUgly, USA.

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5. Rhoda;

   Thanks for reminding me to double check.  I was half-right, as this cape had already been expanded once.  In fact it looks almost exactly like mine, and it was built at the same time.  Trying to upgrade a 1928 home with modern ammenities is like trying to install airbags on a Ford Pinto – at some point you have to start over.

   Note that the house is not worth $2M, it’s the property.  When you are paying taxes on property that is worth $1.8M, having a $200K house on it doesn’t make sense.  This house was cute, and well maintained, but didn’t have much historic or cultural value.  And even if the footprint stays the same, the new home will be more comfortable, efficient, and enjoyable for the people who live there.  Which will make it a good investment as well.

   So when it comes time for me to replace my sagging floors and crooked windows (by tearing down and rebuilding), please remember this conversation.

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6. Not to mention the fact that Boca Raton is pretty much where cookie-cutter zero-lot-line housing developments were invented in the mid-to-late 80s. Yet retiring northeasterners embrace it by the thousands annually and then bemoan the fate of the Westport they left behind.

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