With help needed to make the project a reality, the Board of Selectmen has given its unanimous support to moving the historic Thomas Lyon Jr. House to try and turn it into the education center people have long wanted it to be.
The board’s action, which was taken at its Oct. 7 meeting, doesn’t carry with it any official action to move the project forward. However, what it does do is give the town’s blessing to the project, a critical stamp of approval when it comes to seeking private fund raising.
The historic house, which was the home of one of Greenwich’s founders, Thomas Lyon, requires restoration. Eric Brower, a member of the Greenwich Preservation Trust, said since the house was first constructed in 1695 it likely makes it the oldest, unaltered Colonial home in town and possibly the state. The family lived there for seven generations before the property was sold to the town’s Rotary and Lions Clubs in 1927. The house was originally located right along the southbound side of the Post Road but had to be moved across the street to allow for the widening of the road. Now a second move is required for its restoration.
Several locations have been considered for moving the house which would be a large-scale endeavor, officials say. Mr. Brower said one option that makes the most sense is to move it up the hill and on the bluff overlooking the original site of the house. The town owns the property and the current location could then be turned into open space. Mr. Brower estimated the cost will be $50,000 for professional house movers and costs for the stabilization and restoration of the house have yet to be determined.
Site plan and architectural studies will have to be done and approvals stamped before any work is done. First Selectman Peter Tesei said he likes what he has seen so far and said the proposed move “makes total sense.”
According to Mr. Brower the current location of the house at the edge of the Post Road is “extremely problematic” when it comes to determining a use for it. Because it’s at the edge of the street, there is “virtually no parking” and Mr. Brower said it can be extremely unsafe.
“We’re not really fond of keeping it in place,” Mr. Brower said to the selectmen. “Any of the uses that we’ve looked at, whether they’re a museum or any other educational purpose, would require work to allow the public to get there, whether its kids in school buses or individuals coming in.”
The idea of putting parking behind the building has been explored, but since there is a steep slope there with a drain pipe that provides storm water runoff for McKinney Terrace, Mr. Brower said it wouldn’t work.
“It’s not a good site now where it’s located,” Mr. Brower said.
Mr. Brower said the intention originally in 1927 when the Lyon family left the house was to turn it into a welcoming center, providing information to people as they first entered New England along the road from Port Chester, N.Y., but the project to convert and maintain the property never got off the ground. It then was used as single-family residential property for years before the Lions Club handed over the title of the property to the town in 2007.
“By the time this happened, the property had been vacant for many years without heat or maintenance,” Mr. Brower said. “The house was starting to deteriorate significantly and a prior [town government] administration indicated that if something wasn’t done with the building then its survival couldn’t be insured.”
In 2006, the Byram Neighborhood Association formed the Lyon House Committee to explore ways to preserve the house and determine how it could be best used in the community. As the group expanded its public/private partnership with the town it evolved into the preservation trust and today one of its top priorities is restoring the Lyon House.
The trust is doing private fund raising and has also been able to receive money from the town, most notably funds from the Conservation Commission to bring in consultants to do a historic structure report and a historic title search, which provide needed background. Mr. Brower said doing this helps the trust do private fund raising because it helps demonstrate the significance of the house within the community.
Mr. Brower said the trust just received the final draft of the historic structure report and this puts the trust in the position to move forward. He said grant applications have been made, but the challenge had been that the state and private trusts wanted an indication the town was behind the project. So Mr. Brower said the selectmen’s stamp of approval was a critical one for the project.
Trust member Jo Conboy said the trust has been actively seeking Thomas Lyon’s descendants all over the country, with one being found as far away as Wasilla, Alaska. Several of the descendants are expected in town tomorrow night for a special celebration and discussion of the family’s history with the descendants bringing in artifacts from seven generations of the Lyon family. Ms. Conboy said the descendants are on board in seeing the restoration of the house.
“This is a project that’s not just important to our community, but to other communities across the country,” Ms. Conboy told the selectmen. “As a human interest story there are a lot of people who want to get involved.”
As part of the celebration, Mr. Tesei will be reading a proclamation at Town Hall at 10 a.m. for “Lyon’s Day” which will be followed by a 5:30 p.m. event at the Byram Shubert Library. Ms. Conboy said the public is invited to attend to meet the family members.
More information about the event and a chance to make donations to the Greenwich Preservation Trust, which Ms. Conboy was quick to point out are tax deductible, is available online at greenwichpreservationtrust.org.
“It’s going to take a lot to restore the house so we will need all the help we can,” Ms. Conboy said.
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