An alert “06880” reader — a man who works in downtown Westport, and has a keen sense of the area’s past, present and future — wandered down Church Lane. He gazed at the Federal-style Sherwood House across from the Y — now being renovated into a restaurant — and sent this along:
I’ve been wondering about the worth of totally gutting a “historic” building in the name of preservation, when the fact of the matter is there’s hardly anything original about the building once the renovation is complete.
The future home of the Grey Goose restaurant is a case in point. There’s more daylight in this old building than wood.
As I was snapping this photo and thinking “what’s the point?” the builder came across the street and asked what I was doing. He seems like a nice guy.
When I mentioned to him that it seemed a costly sham to just leave a few timbers up, he said there was actually a lot of original timber left in the building — and a lot more of it just lying around.
He said there are some cool pieces, including mantels, that he doesn’t know what to do with. I’ve seen some of it — hand-hewn beams with ax marks plainly visible. The wood’s got to be 200 years old.
I told him I’d mention it to you in case you wanted to ask your readers how best to recycle these vintage — and historic — pieces of Westport’s past.
Okay, “06880” readers: Game on!
You’re a creative bunch. You respect yesterday, while looking forward to tomorrow. Click “Comments” to let the Grey Goose builder know exactly what he can do with his timber.