For over 60 years the Tri-Town Teachers Federal Credit Union has served educators in Westport, Weston and Wilton, plus many other Westport town employees.
Most recently, the credit union has been housed in the historic Godillot Carriage House. It’s on Jesup Road near Imperial Avenue — catty-corner from the police station.
The credit union is proud of their home — and the entire neighborhood. So they recently commissioned a painting of it circa 1882, when it was built.
Artist Jack Conti did plenty of research, to make sure he got the details right.
Alexis Godillot was an importer of French foods. He and his wife Julia expanded and improved his property, making it a showplace of the community.
Conti’s painting shows the property looking north across Deadman’s Brook, from Imperial Avenue.
The main house (yellow) sat on a knoll. Originally built in 1804 in Victorian stick style, by 1882 it had an attached greenhouse. The building is now occupied by the Smith Richardson Foundation.
The credit union is now housed in the carriage house — the red building next to the main house. It once included a stable.
The white cottage housed servants. It too had a greenhouse. The building — once the offices of the Westport Board of Education — is now occupied by the Sherwood & Garlick law firm.
The boathouse (red structure on the brook) served as a place to store small recreational boats. It was relocated elsewhere in Westport in the 1950s.
The Jesup Road neighborhood is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It looks much the same today.
Still, the credit union — the building in the center, in the photo above — is not stuck in the past.
On its roof now are solar panels.
And gone are the stables. They’ve been replaced by free charging stations, for drivers with electric vehicles.
(Hat tip: John Coniglio)
