A restoration job some thought would be impossible to carry out caught the attention of the Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust.
It took place on Meadow Street, involving a house that stood empty and unwanted for years and was in such poor shape that it even had no takers in a bank foreclosure sale two years ago.
Enter Nick Priola of Norwalk, who bought the forlorn property from the Federal National Mortgage Association for $101,750 in April 2020 with the intent of restoring it for residential use.
Priola hired architect Clifford Cooper of Litchfield, who is known statewide for his work in restoration, and Benovation, a remodeling business owned by Ben Buck of Litchfield, for the job. Work started in November 2020 and was finished by the end of May 2021.
For their efforts, Priola, Cooper and Buck were recognized by the Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust during its annual meeting at the Litchfield Historical Society on Monday. The trio each received the GLPT’s annual Preservation Award that goes to individuals who have made a committed effort to preserve a house or building in town. Priola, who rents the house, was unable to attend the meeting.
“We saw a property that was in danger and we weren’t sure what was going to happen to it,” GLPT officer Victoria Sansing said before presenting the awards. “This is not a huge house, but it’s charming and is important in its own way.”
As Sansing noted, “You just don’t take buildings down in Litchfield.”
Cooper described the project as “quite an undertaking.”
“I’ll never forget walking into that house,” he said of first look at the rotting interior.
The right side of the house – looking at it from the street – was built around 1820 and was moved to the current location. Most of its architectural features were found to be intact as Buck and his crew began gutting the structure down to its post and beam structure. The left side of the house was an addition, Buck said, and its second floor showed evidence of a fire and a reconstruction in the 1950s based on the plywood that was used.
Buck recalled bringing his wife, Jessica, to see the house after he agreed to work for Priola.
“She walked in, turned around and walked out,” Buck said. “She couldn’t believe I wanted to take on something like that.”
Buck’s crew, he said, had a similar reaction of the first day of the job.
“We persevered and after two weeks, their opinion of what we were doing changed,” Buck said of his workers. “They began taking great pride in the job.”
The work to gut the house revealed not only the post and beam structure but also the lack of a foundation under the front left side and beneath a kitchen that extended off the rear of the house. Concrete was poured to support the front left side and the kitchen was demolished to make way for a foundation on which a new kitchen was built.