Move of Historic Cottage Endorsed

A proposal by three residents to move a historic cottage from behind Carolton Chronic Convalescent Hospital to town-owned land at 75 Mill Plain Road was endorsed tonight by the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Sturges Cottage, built in 1840 and formerly owned by Frederick Sturges Jr., whose family donated land to the town that is now the 12-acre Sturges Park, would move to the northeastern corner of the Parks and Recreation Department's parking lot and would be the new home of the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce.

"We do feel that the end of the property nearest to St. Thomas Cemetery is the best fit," said David Sturges, a distant relative of Frederick Sturges Jr., whose family also sold to the town, at below-market rates, land that is now home to Roger Ludlowe Middle School and Fairfield Ludlowe High School.

Jeanne Harrison, who's working with Sturges and Melanie Marks on the project, said Carmen Tortora Jr., owner of Carolton Chronic Convalescent Hospital, had planned to demolish the cottage about six years ago and had been very patient while she and others searched for a new location. The cottage was used by the landscaper/gardener of Jonathan Sturges, who lived in a house on Mill Plain Road that still exists today, and it's one of few examples of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture around today, according to Marks.

"Our preference would have been to keep it closer to the mother house, but that isn't working out," Harrison said, referencing past attempts to move the cottage to the top of Sturges Park.

Gerald Lombardo, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said the department would lose parking spaces by moving the cottage to its property, but added that a realignment of its driveway and parking lot for safety reasons could increase parking spaces elsewhere on the site.

"If we're going to make up the parking spaces in the back, I don't know. What difference does it make?" asked Ellery Plotkin, the commission's chairman.

Harrison said the Chamber of Commerce, now on the second floor of a building at 1597 Post Road, was difficult to get to and would be more visible fronting on Mill Plain Road by exit 21 of Interstate 95. She said she showed the cottage to Patricia Ritchie, the Chamber's president and CEO, and Ritchie loved it.

Sturges said it would take at least two years to raise money to move the cottage, and Marks, in a letter read by Harrison, said the group planned to seek grants to restore the cottage to its original condition. The realignment of the rec department's driveway and parking lot, which would be financed by the town, originally was planned so visitors to the town's Fitness Center wouldn't have to cross a travel lane for cars.

The rec commission, made up of nine volunteer residents (eight are appointed by the Board of Selectmen, one is a liaison from the Board of Education), held off on voting to approve the relocation of the cottage, pending concrete information on how many parking spaces would be lost - and then regained by the realignment project. The vote likely will be at 7 p.m. May 19 in the Parks and Recreation Department, 75 Mill Plain Road.

"I think we're all in agreement with the idea of having it here," Lombardo said. "We just want to have the true numbers upfront...so nothing is left to guesswork. One more month won't hinder it. I think it's going to be approved."