E. K. Lockwood House Owner: 'I Never Knew That I Owned this Treasure'

In an effort to save a historic house at 41 High St., the city Historical Commission plans to see if zoning and other officials can work out an agreement with the building's owners, who want to expand their construction yard.

"I think the next step we need to do is, basically, sit down with zoning and ... see if we can accomodate your needs (in a way that will) save this building," Historical Commission Chairman Peter Bondi told the building's owners, Gino and Nick Vona at a public hearing Tuesday on the house. "We'll try to put forth a solution that will make everybody happy."

The Vonas, who own Vona & Vona Mason Contractors, a business with a construction yard near the building, had applied for a city permit to tear down the structure. The building was once the home of E. K. Lockwood and his wife, who took one of the first cruise tours of Europe and the Middle East in a group that also included Samuel L. Clemens in 1867.

"I never knew that I owned this treasure, so you guys opened our eyes," Gino Vona told the commission and the dozen people who crowded the small hearing room.

"Everybody says that Rome is beautiful," Vona, a native of Italy, continued. "If it wasn't for some people who kept the Colosseum and the Vatican, Rome wouldn't be what it is today."

At another point in the meeting, Vona said: "If push comes to shove, I don't mind to donate the house."

Under the pseudonym Mark Twain, he wrote The Innocents Abroad, based on his newspaper accounts of the trip. It was the book which gained Twain a national reputation.

as well as another Norwalker, Frederick Dimon (who, along with their wives, were four of the 75 Americans on the tour). After the trip, in a letter to a woman who was also on board.

According to old city directories, the Lockwoods (distant relatives of LeGrand Lockwood, who built the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion) were living in the house from as early as 1858 to 1906. Tod Bryant, president of the Norwalk Historical Preservation Trust, said the house was probably built around 1857.

On the outside, it is an excellent example of Italianate Victorian architecture, he said. The Vonas recently let Bryant in the house, which is still largely rented to residential tenants, and Bryant said he found Greek Revival moldings in the interior design of door frames in the downstairs hallway—an unusual mixing of different design elements indoors and outdoors, he said.

The building doesn't appear to have any water damage at all from a leaky roof, "so it's been maintained since the 1850s," he said.

After the Vona brothers applied for a permit to demolish the house, Bryant, on behalf of his group, filed an objection to the demolition, forcing a 90-day delay. He  to hold a public hearing in order to discuss the possibility of saving the house, which the Vonas have a legal right to destroy.

Bryant said the house was never put on any registry for historic buildings, as were some other properties in Norwalk, so Bryant's group has no recourse to the courts with the Vonas. The legal landscape for 41 High St. is not at all like that of a building on East Avenue, in which the Norwalk Inn & Conference Center was sued in order to prevent its expansion plan from tearing down that building.

Also at the public hearing was Steve Serasis, a neighborhood resident who made the residents' problems with the Vona business an issue in his campaign for mayor several years ago. Serasis also asked the commission to try to work out a plan that would save the building and satisfy the Vonas and city zoning officials, who had made the Vonas' previous expansion plans more difficult. Several other speakers made the same point.

"That house is a key house in the uptown area," Serasis told the commission. The building, with its distinctive look, is one of the 19th century structures that lend character to the neighborhood and the city as a whole. "Having lived there (in the neighborhood) since I was six years old, you don't know how grateful I am that that house is still standing."

Serasis said there are at least three very legitimate interests in the neighborhood, some of which are in conflict: preserving the house for historic reasons, the interests of residents who find the noise and dust from the Vona business difficult to live with, and the Vona's interest in running their business.

Richard Bonenfant and David Jaeger, members of the Common Council, also asked that city officials try to work out a solution that would save the building while helping the Vonas find room to expand.

Some residents on Fair Street who live near the construction yard and some landlords of buildings there told the commission that it the yard can be loud even early on Saturday mornings, and it creates a lot of dust that gets into their homes.

But even some of those residents said that city officials who zoned the area for light industrial uses were more to blame than the Vonas, who said they (imperfectly) followed city zoning rules to locate a business in the neighborhood that was allowed under the regulations.

The business "might be in the wrong place," Serasis told the Vonas during the hearing. "It more than likely is, and that's not your fault."

Amanda Brown of 80 County St. told the commission that the city should try to help the Vonas move their business to a more suitable location. Gino Vona said he'd welcome that.

"The problem on High Street is not because my business is located in the wrong place—it's whoever did the planning in Norwalk." Vona said he and his brother bought the location for their yard and bought other property in the neighborhood because it was zoned for just the uses the Vonas wanted.

Vona said Norwalk officials changed the zoning regulations for the district immediately after he bought the former VFW building at the corner of High and Cross streets, making it extremely difficult to expand the business there. The existing business site is grandfathered in under the zoning change, and can continue.

"We've been pushed around like a broom," Vona said, referring to city officials and others. Vona said he'd be happy to move if the city could help the business find a better location. If the city could create an industrial park, he said, that would be ideal.