Demolition Begins On Old Laurel House Furniture Building In Enfield

ENFIELD, CT — For more than half a century, a white commercial building encompassing more than 8,300 square feet was situated on Route 5 in Enfield, at 878 Enfield Street, replacing a home which had stood there since 1828. From the time of its construction in the late 1960s, the new store and a 3,456 square-foot storage warehouse in the rear were home to Laurel House Furniture, serving area shoppers for over 25 years. In the late 1990s, a home decor variety store took over the space, followed in 2003 by Homestead Broyhill.

The property on the southwest corner of Enfield and North Main streets has been mainly vacant since being acquired by the Troiano family in 2007. A number of prospective buyers have expressed interest in the site since then, but the aging structure is virtually unusable in its current state, and has been a deterrent to serious development inquiries.

That is all changing, as demolition began Tuesday and continued Wednesday on the main building. The storage building, which dates back to 1955, will begin to come down Thursday, according to ownership partner Frank Troiano.

"A lot of people have been interested in it, but having the old building there is like looking to buy a house which is filled with stuff in every room," Troiano told Patch.

Clearing the old building off the site makes the land more attractive to prospective buyers, which in turn will improve the look and vitality of the prime space. It is located on just over an acre and a half of land, just north of Bank of America and across North Main Street from the town green.