There’s always a story.
Last week’s Photo Challenge showed an easily identifiable — well, to anyone who lived here through the 1970s, anyway — painting.
I called it a lighthouse. I wrote that for decades it stood between the marina and pool entrance at Longshore — near where the pavilion and snack bar are now. (Click here to see.)
So that was not the challenge. I asked: Where can you see this painting today?
Fred Cantor, Joyce Barnhart and Lynn Untermeyer Miller all know: In the lobby of the Parks & Recreation offices, at Longshore a few yards from the 1st tee.
Then Richard Stein chimed in. He found this painting at a tag sale at the Red
Barn restaurant, on Wilton Road.
It was coated with dust, cobwebs and dirt. He had it cleaned and repaired, then donated to the Westport Permanent Art Collections, with the request that it hang at Parks & Rec office.
He added that a label on the back said “Horowitz.” The name “Harriet” appears at the bottom of the painting, along with “’71” — presumably indicating it was done in 1971.
Jill Turner Odice quickly added some details: Her mother, Julie Turner, was friends with Harriet Horowitz. They painted and played tennis together in Westport, between 1966 and ’89. “This painting is in her style,” Jill said.
That’s the story. Except for even more information, courtesy of Stein. He’s been told that some of the granite foundation stones of the tower are still there, in the marina parking lot.
Plus this: It was not actually a lighthouse. Stein says it was an observation tower.
“06880” readers truly are on top of everything.
This week’s Photo Challenge should ring a bell. If you know where in Westport you’d find this, click “Comment” below.
And of course, provide the back story.
(Photo/Ed Simek)
Saugatuck Fire Dept bell
Saugatuck Firehouse?
Saugatuck Fire House
Next to the Saugatuck Firehouse?
The bell is in sconcet square
The brass bell at the Westport Fire Department Station 4 on Riverside Ave.
Also known as Saugatuck Hose Company Engine Company 4.
The front garage right next to the bell is where the historic ’40s restored fire engine sits and the addition on the right side of to this historic structure sits the main fire engine.
Drive by that all the time
bell in front of the Saugatuck Fire Station
It is at the Saugatuck Fire station
Correct: Saugatuck Fire House on Riverside Avenue. That was an easy one!
I might have this wrong but I seem to recall this bell is actually from the earlier firehouse which stood in what is now Bridge Square – right beside the bridge. The tower that the bell sat in is still visible and it is also prominently featured in Robert Lamdin’s 1969 painting “Saugatuck in the 19th Century” -which I think is owned by the Town of Westport.
You mean the old firehouse that at one point became DeRosa’s Pizza? I always thought that tower was the hose tower.
I’m referring to the old firehouse that once stood in Bridge Square (corner of Bridge Street & Riverside.
This is the firehouse at Bridge St and Riverside.
I know. The bell is resting beside the replacement fire station on Riverside. But I’m reasonably sure it’s the decommissioned bell from the earlier fire station which was beside the Cribari Bridge. I guess the old station kinda still exists among all that stuff in Bridge Square – certainly you can see the old wooden bell tower if you scan the roofline.
going back to your previous story about the painting, I believe Harriet’ last name was Hurwitz and she had a son named Alan…
…” Diving from the tower of his raft”…
The Great Gatsby
Saugatuck Hose Company Engine Co #4. Taken from the tower at Bridge Street Square?
in front of Saugatuck Fire Station, would like to know its history