Allan Appel Photo
Access-limiting fence, in orange, surrounds carriage house.
As its roof continues to threaten to fall in and the foundation crumbles, the quaint 19th-Century carriage house at 515 Quinnipiac Ave. has sprouted an access-limiting orange fabric fence.
That may be a sign, however slight, that the owner, the city, and the New Haven Preservation Trust are getting together to try to put a halt to a wave of “demolitions by neglect” that have caused melancholy along the banks of the river, along with calls for stricter rules to reign in negligent owners of venerable property in the Quinnipiac River Historic District.
The owner of the carriage house, Kenneth Higgins, had appeared at last month’s regular meeting of the Historic District Commission seeking permission to demolish the building.
That request was soundly denied, with the commission’s chairperson Trina Learned declaring that the commission deemed the building full of character and important to the context of the area. She said she refused to be the building’s “executioner.” Commissioners debated whether their preservation efforts alert the city to decaying buildings — and then hastens their demolition by leading to public-safety orders.
Quite the opposite, so far, has happened in the case of 515 Quinnipiac.
On Dec. 17, following the December HDC meeting, city Building Official Jim Turcio sent a terse letter to Higgins notifying him that the carriage house, formally called his “rear accessory property,” is in poor condition and unsafe and he is therefore in violation of the Connecticut state building Code 116.5.
Higgins was ordered to come to the department and obtain a permit to make repairs.
He did not come, but on the following day called Turcio. The two agreed that installing a temporary fence would do the trick for now while Higgins agreed to pursue a structural/cost assessment from an engineer about steps necessary to restore the building to a safe condition, according to Higgins’ letter to Turcio.
Higgins also committed to work with New Haven Preservation Trust Director of Preservation Services Elizabeth Holt to achieve that end.
Holt was in attendance at last Wednesday night’s HDC monthly meeting. Although the item was not on the commissioners’ formal agenda, she gave this reporter an update.
“Last time, he [the owner] went straight to the HDC for demolition. Everyone’s taken a step back. I personally would like to see a solution,” she said. To that end, she’s helping arrange a structural engineer’s visit with real numbers/costs for restoring the building to safety and use.
“Every possible option is still on the table,” she wrote in an email after the meeting. Those include:
• Keeping the building in place and repairing it to be used as storage.
• Temporary solutions to stabilize the structure
• Advertising the building for sale to be moved to a new location; this might be for storage or residence in the new location.
Holt said she hopes a site visit by Brad Schide of the Connecticut Trust For Historic Preservation will be arranged by the end of the month.
Higgins wrote in his letter that he hopes Turcio will not punish him if seeking the restoration estimates exceeds 30 days. He also committed to returning to the HDC when he has numbers in hand to present.
The letter ended with a touch of the ominous: “However, if costs are prohibitive we will look at alternatives which may include demolition of the building.”
Higgins wrote that he already has in a hand “a quote on the cost of building removal.”
Which means the threat of demolition still looms.
Stay tuned.