Death of a Structure

Though years of neglect had started to show, the late Greek Revival home had withstood the test of time for a century and half until Tuesday, Feb. 8 when the chimney and roof started caving in on itself presumably due to the weight of snow and ice.

That was enough for the town building official who condemned the structure, deeming it too dangerous for occupancy. State officials moved to apply for a demolition permit on the structure.

On Thursday, more than 150 years of history came tumbling down at the hands of a wrecking claw, which flattened the old farmhouse into a pile of rubble in less than an hour.

The building, which had been vacant for years, started out as a farmstead home, said Town Historian Dan Cruson, who also is a Patch contributor.

“It was prime farmland up there,” Cruson said.

Back before the state even contemplated building the Fairfield Hills mental health institution, the land and all that surrounded it was used for farming.

Over the decades, as plans to build Fairfield Hills materialized and then later to shut it down came to pass, the house remained seemingly unchanged. During the later part of its life, the building was better known as a notable landscape feature, a marker of sorts overlooking the busy intersection of Wasserman Way and Nunnawauk Road.

It was a shame to see a structure with so much history come down, Cruson said, though its fate seemed readily apparent during the past several years as it fell into a state of disrepair.

“It’s a shame to lose an old farmhouse due to state neglect,” he said.

Officials said there are no plans to build anything in its place. The area is likely to remain simply a grassy patch along Wasserman Way.