WestportNow presents the 10th and final installment in a series of photos of the 10 winners of the Historic District Commission 2008 Preservation Awards to be handed out in a Town Hall ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday, which is open to the public. A widely watched restoration in town, the complex of structures at 113 Cross Highway is owned by Michael and Kim Ronemus. In granting the award, HDC officials said, “This award is being given in recognition of your extensive restoration of the William Meeker House (c. 1830) and outbuildings. During the past two years, Westporters have followed your permit odyssey with the hope that you and the town could reach a resolution. The outcome exceeded expectations, with the impressive restoration of your 19th century farmhouse, and as a driving force for new zoning regulations that allow for the adaptive re-use of antique outbuildings.Thanks to your perseverance, other owners of historic properties will be able to make applications for the conversion and use of their historic houses and outbuildings for generations to come.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Sponsors
6 thoughts on “Preservation Award Winner: 113 Cross Highway”
Leave a Reply
Subscribe
Enter your email address to get WestportNow.com delivered to your inbox:
Powered by FeedBlitz
Of Interest
Support a classroom.
Build a future.
What's inside
Property Transfers
Arts & Leisure
Business
Community
Health & Fitness
Education
Politics
Real Estate
Sports
COVID-19 Info
Westport Info
Westport Weather
Westport Traffic
Of Interest
Westport YouTube
Social Media
Westport-Area Blogs
Suggest a Westport-area blog by sending email to: editor@westportnow.com
Congratulations Mike and Kim! I hope town representatives take a long, hard look at how difficult their “journey” was. I am forever grateful that Mike and Kim had the tenacity to endure town meeting after town meeting, proposal after proposal, and revision after revision to produce this outcome. Thank you Mike and Kim from saving this beautiful historic property from a bulldozer.
This is arguably one of the town’s greatest preservation success stories in recent years—especially gratifying in light of the numerous regulatory and zoning hurdles the Ronemuses faced. Thanks Kim and Mike for your determination, perseverance and vision. I can’t wait for the finished product!
Thank you both for the kind words. Actually we had wonderful support from nearly everyone in Westport, including many citizens – some we know and many we don’t. We also received strong support from the RTM, P and Z, Morley Boyd and all of the members of the Historic District Commission, the Town Attorney (who opined that our request to salvage and utilize the out buildings were legal and proper), First Selectman Gordon Joseloff and all of the employees in Town Hall who have assisted along the way. The publicity focused on the one town board which made decisions that made the project more difficult and expensive. But that has been far outweighed by the support.
Also, this project would have remained a pipe dream without the incredible help of Michael Glynn, our architect who was born and raised in Westport and who has the skills, experience, knowledge, contacts, and most of all the patience to work with Kim’s ideas and turn the fantasy of preserving this house into reality. Every other architect we spoke to recommended tearing down the house and building a new structure. There is still much work to be done but it feels nice to know that this 200 year old farmhouse (and first gas station in Westport) is likely to be around for at least another 200.
Kim and Michael Ronemus deserve far more than just congratulations for this remarkable success, achieved against odds that included obscure and even illogical episodes of bureaucratic opposition, let alone the architectural challenges encountered.
The result, even though not totally complete, is remarkable for its clean, impressive preservation of originality in layout and sculpted presentation. Anyone and everyone associated with this labor of love and dedication to historical values that are so valuable to Westport, and particularly Michael Glynn, should be applauded, and the Town should be congratulated for actually realizing it !
Gavin Anderson.
Kim and Michael will be getting a lot more out of this than our much deserved congratulations. They now have a beautiful home that is a distinct and unique historic treasure. A wonderful place for a family. And a wonderful asset to be sold, if and when they choose to do so. In an era of cookie-cutter houses, designed by a committee focused on what “the market” wants, there is a large and growing segment of the market that wants to own historic homes.
Great work.
congratulations Mikey and Kim—you have done something wonderful for the town of Westport. The only problem is is that I am going to have an accident in front of 113 Cross Hwy, as everytime I drive by, I can’t take my eyes off your beautiful home!!!!