Submitted by Frederick Lee
To the Editor:
Most of us have walked past 2 Greenwich Avenue a thousand times. It is the Tudor building at the top of the Avenue, at the corner of West Putnam, and it has stood there since 1894, the gateway to our downtown. A developer has now filed plans to demolish it, along with its two neighboring historic buildings, and replace them with new four-story construction.
I write as Chair of District 1 of the Representative Town Meeting, the district in which these buildings stand, and on behalf of the many constituents who have voiced their opposition to me. I am not speaking for the RTM or the Town as a whole.
Many residents assume buildings like these are protected.
They are not.
Although all three are part of the Greenwich Avenue Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, that designation is honorary; it does not prevent demolition. The developer proposes to rebuild something similar in place of the corner building, but concedes in its own filing that the result “will not be a facsimile.”
Once the originals are gone, they are gone. And if these buildings can be demolished, every historic building on the Avenue is vulnerable to the same fate.
There is, however, real hope. Connecticut law protects historic properties from unreasonable destruction, and the State Historic Preservation Office, the state agency charged with protecting Connecticut’s historic places, has opened an investigation into this proposal.
This summer, the State’s own experts, a structural engineer and a historic architect, will examine the buildings independently and explore alternatives to demolition. Community voices matter to that process: letters from residents demonstrate how deeply Greenwich cares about these buildings.
That is where you come in. If you believe the Avenue should keep its history, please take five minutes to write a short letter to Todd Levine at the State Historic Preservation Office. A few sentences in your own words are all it takes, and your own words are what count: your name, your Greenwich address, that you oppose the demolition of 2 Greenwich Avenue and its two neighboring historic buildings, and what these buildings and our Avenue mean to you.
For the strongest impact, save your letter as a separate document, a PDF works well, and attach it to an email to [email protected]; words in the email itself count too. And if you have history to share, old photographs, documents, or memories of these buildings, the State welcomes those as well; they will become part of the official record.
Greenwich Avenue is not just a shopping street. It is our town’s front porch, and these buildings are its front door. Let us not trade the originals for copies.
Frederick Lee
Chair, Representative Town Meeting, District 1
Greenwich