WestportNow Teardown of the Day: 32 Whitney St.

11 thoughts on “WestportNow Teardown of the Day: 32 Whitney St.”

1. I really do feel ill about this one. The house had great proportions (for a little farmhouse) and sat so nicely on the property, which had some beautiful trees.

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2. 1879?  Disgusting.  Absolutely shameful.

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3. Let’s morph to DOZEPORT…
   Tom Feeley

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4. It is a sad state of this town, we moved here years ago because of the New England charm. Charm no more! And New England no more either! I just want to know why we even have a Historical Society? Where is the “Historical” part? It is getting less and less and soon there will be none. Is this what we should teach the next generation, that “destruction is good”? We should not keep the past? How sad a “Society” we live in.

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5. There was an interesting comment in the Times last week. The individual’s premise was that there are always real estate cycles—ups and downs—but when things go up again styles generally change. He feels that the next style change will lead to smaller houses with a minimal carbon footprint.
   What will happen to the current generation of McMansions? He feels some will become teardowns and others may even become multi-family dwellings. We have seen a start to that as McMansion owners have applied for auxiliary apartments

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6. How does WestMORE sound—that’s the name for our town used by a barista/server and her co-workers at a popular local shop. (She was embarrassed when I told her I live in this town. And I was a little embarrassed, too)

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7. In the interest of disclosing who is doing what, the subject property was deeded to Saxony LLC by David Roseneau trustee on 10-03-03, Saxony LLC (John Rosenau, Manager; David Rosenau, Agent) then sold the property to Christopher Cocco on 10-22-08. Since the demo permit was filed back in June (or even earlier) then Saxony would have to have been involved in some fashion, although Christopher Cocco Construction may have been the the folks with the plan to demolish.

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8. It is a crime that this house survived almost a 130 years and was erased from the landscape in an hour or so. How unimaginative the new owner of this property must be not to have been able to incorporate a tasteful addition to accommodate the needs of modern living. What a waste. It never seems to amaze me that with all the existing housing stock someone thought that this was a good idea.

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9. I am not posting this as a selectman, but as a member of this community. When I was a teenager growing up in Norwalk, I spent time in Westport, and remember so well the local stores, coffee places, and charming houses. Since moving here in 1990, I look around, and every time I see a teardown, I see another bit of Westport’s charm going, going, and soon, gone.
   Thank goodness Europeans seem to have more respect for their heritage, or Shakespeare’s cottage could be condos!

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10. Well said Mr. Lasprogato. Please excuse my grammatical “screw up” on my above posting…but it truly infuriates me when perfectly charming homes where character cannot be bought or replicated are forever lost. I do hope HDC enforces the 180 day demolition delay on such structures in the future and works to assist the owners, and builder/ developers to embrace the structure and work to enhance the existing, if needed, to accommodate modern family needs. HDC and neighbor participation has worked well so far in our Gorham Avenue Historic District.

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11. Along the same line…many of those beautiful Victorians became rooming houses, were cut up for multi-families or were let run down as “white elephants” during the 40’s and 50’s and 60’s.  What we have left of them now are but a miniscule percentage of the common homes of the mid and late 18th century. 
    It will be interesting to watch the new herd of “white elephants” as they morph along.

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