Haverson Architects
Unsung Volunteers
Greenwich is populated by many talented men and women who freely contribute their skill and labor to improve the town. They do so without fanfare but one of the delights of having a column is that I can spotlight some of those efforts and thank my neighbors publicly. For instance, some years ago Riverside School was in desperate need of expansion. A standard, “expansion to public school, elementary” plan was provided and an ugly new building scheduled. Riverside parents Jay and Carolyn Haverson thought they could do better. Jay is an architect more noted for his exuberant style (a local sample can be enjoyed at Arcadia Coffee House in Old Greenwich) than for staid institutional buildings but he suppressed his inclinations, went to work for free and came up with an addition that would blend seamlessly with the existing school. He and Carolyn then fought an unappreciative building committee, various town planning authorities and, finally, won approval. The new addition is a huge success. It’s airy, light and almost imperceptible as “new”. So the next time you drive by Riverside School and don’t notice anything different, thank the Haversons. I do, every day.
Old News?
Two houses are, as of this writing, on the market that should appeal to anyone in the $800,000 range. Mary O’Brien (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold) has a listing at 15 Windsor Lane in Cos Cob priced at $830,000. While I would be the first to admit that “charming” and “split-level” are usually mutually exclusive, this one manages to be both. 2,500 square feet on .28 of an acre, it’s clad in vertical siding stained grey and picked up by red trim—to this eye, a pleasing combination. The inside is renovated and pristine. I liked the house and the street it’s on a lot.
The second home of note is Joan Epand’s (Russell Pruner & Associates) listing on 10 Tomac Court in Old Greenwich for $789,000. 1,850 square feet with an unprepossessing exterior but very nice inside. It overlooks the old Congregational Church cemetery with its Revolutionary War veterans’ gravestones. I’ve always felt that, if you can’t buy your view you should at least strive for a protected one and this serene, picturesque view is very much protected. No more veterans from that particular war are likely to be demanding burial, and no one will be building there any time soon (although you never know; my own Huguenot ancestors’ graves now lie buried under the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island). Go see it; it’s an excellent value.
Tree House
Carolyn Sarsen’s listing at 332 Stanwich Road is a fantastic glass-walled eyrie perched atop a granite outcrop and overlooking Frye “Lake” (we realtors call any body of water large enough to accommodate a pair of bullfrogs a lake-you might call the same thing a pond). It’s not for everyone—my own clients decided it was too open, thereby disappointing me and freeing me to write it up in this column—but I love it. Great, sweeping views, flooded with light even on the dank dreary day I visited, it’s in move-in condition. I am not a huge fan of contemporaries; this one, however, was thoughtfully sited and designed and I wouldn’t change a single line.
Unfinished Business
Just saw a house today that was obviously undergoing a complete renovation before the owners’ circumstances changed. The work that’s been done: beautiful kitchen, massive new furnaces and water heaters and new wiring is all of the highest quality. It is located on one of the great streets of Greenwich with beautiful formal gardens and a sweeping back yard. The trouble is, the house isn’t done. It lacks a dining room, master bedroom and even, as far as I could tell, a garage. None of which would be daunting if it weren’t priced as though all those items had been completed. I learned the hard way, when I moved from my own half-finished renovation of an 1830’s farmhouse in Maine back to Greenwich, a partially-renovated home doesn’t command a price anything close to the money that’s been poured into it. My advice on these situations is to either finish the job or acknowledge that the work is not completed and write off most of what you put into the improvements. Pretending otherwise will only guarantee that your now-unwanted project sits unsold for a long time.
Greenwich is populated by many talented men and women who freely contribute their skill and labor to improve the town. They do so without fanfare but one of the delights of having a column is that I can spotlight some of those efforts and thank my neighbors publicly. For instance, some years ago Riverside School was in desperate need of expansion. A standard, “expansion to public school, elementary” plan was provided and an ugly new building scheduled. Riverside parents Jay and Carolyn Haverson thought they could do better. Jay is an architect more noted for his exuberant style (a local sample can be enjoyed at Arcadia Coffee House in Old Greenwich) than for staid institutional buildings but he suppressed his inclinations, went to work for free and came up with an addition that would blend seamlessly with the existing school. He and Carolyn then fought an unappreciative building committee, various town planning authorities and, finally, won approval. The new addition is a huge success. It’s airy, light and almost imperceptible as “new”. So the next time you drive by Riverside School and don’t notice anything different, thank the Haversons. I do, every day.
Old News?
Two houses are, as of this writing, on the market that should appeal to anyone in the $800,000 range. Mary O’Brien (Cleveland, Duble & Arnold) has a listing at 15 Windsor Lane in Cos Cob priced at $830,000. While I would be the first to admit that “charming” and “split-level” are usually mutually exclusive, this one manages to be both. 2,500 square feet on .28 of an acre, it’s clad in vertical siding stained grey and picked up by red trim—to this eye, a pleasing combination. The inside is renovated and pristine. I liked the house and the street it’s on a lot.
The second home of note is Joan Epand’s (Russell Pruner & Associates) listing on 10 Tomac Court in Old Greenwich for $789,000. 1,850 square feet with an unprepossessing exterior but very nice inside. It overlooks the old Congregational Church cemetery with its Revolutionary War veterans’ gravestones. I’ve always felt that, if you can’t buy your view you should at least strive for a protected one and this serene, picturesque view is very much protected. No more veterans from that particular war are likely to be demanding burial, and no one will be building there any time soon (although you never know; my own Huguenot ancestors’ graves now lie buried under the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island). Go see it; it’s an excellent value.
Tree House
Carolyn Sarsen’s listing at 332 Stanwich Road is a fantastic glass-walled eyrie perched atop a granite outcrop and overlooking Frye “Lake” (we realtors call any body of water large enough to accommodate a pair of bullfrogs a lake-you might call the same thing a pond). It’s not for everyone—my own clients decided it was too open, thereby disappointing me and freeing me to write it up in this column—but I love it. Great, sweeping views, flooded with light even on the dank dreary day I visited, it’s in move-in condition. I am not a huge fan of contemporaries; this one, however, was thoughtfully sited and designed and I wouldn’t change a single line.
Unfinished Business
Just saw a house today that was obviously undergoing a complete renovation before the owners’ circumstances changed. The work that’s been done: beautiful kitchen, massive new furnaces and water heaters and new wiring is all of the highest quality. It is located on one of the great streets of Greenwich with beautiful formal gardens and a sweeping back yard. The trouble is, the house isn’t done. It lacks a dining room, master bedroom and even, as far as I could tell, a garage. None of which would be daunting if it weren’t priced as though all those items had been completed. I learned the hard way, when I moved from my own half-finished renovation of an 1830’s farmhouse in Maine back to Greenwich, a partially-renovated home doesn’t command a price anything close to the money that’s been poured into it. My advice on these situations is to either finish the job or acknowledge that the work is not completed and write off most of what you put into the improvements. Pretending otherwise will only guarantee that your now-unwanted project sits unsold for a long time.
posted by Chris Fountain at 1:00 PM
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