GREENWICH, Conn. _ Col. Raynal Bolling, an architect of American air power in World War I, died of a German bullet in 1918. The aviator’s Greenwich mansion, featuring 13 fireplaces and a shooting gallery, survived until 2007.
Hedge-fund manager Spencer Lampert spent $7.6 million to buy the home, designed by the same firm that created the New York Public Library. Then, last year, Mr. Lampert razed it to the ground. Asked to describe what he has in mind for the now-vacant six-acre lot, he said in an e-mail: ”Planning on building a house.”
While much of the nation is mired in a housing slump, this Connecticut enclave is keeping alive one tradition of the late, great U.S. home boom – the teardown. In the first three months of this year, 19 homes in this wealthy coastal town of 64,000 were demolished to make way for new ones. That keeps pace with the rate over the past three years, when more than 70 homes in the town were demolished annually, according to the city government’s Historic District Commission.
Many blame the tear-downs on the influx of wealthy financial migrants from New York, about an hour’s drive away. More than 100 hedge funds, lightly regulated investment pools that cater to the rich, are now headquartered in Greenwich. Money’s everywhere.
Empty lots aren’t. Land in prestigious neighborhoods is so scarce that it’s often more valuable than whatever is built on it. Wealthy buyers often prefer to build from scratch, even if it means leveling an old house.
Preservationists say that since 2004, at least 13 homes with recognized historical significance have gone under the wrecking ball. ”We are seeing destruction of the fabric of the community year after year,” says Susan Richardson, former chairman of the historic district commission. ”I’m not sure where it will end.”
Many of the teardowns are done by developers who use the lots for new homes. Developer Steve Hatch says he bought an old farmhouse in 2004 for $1.5 million. Local preservation activists told him it had historical value. ”I’m just personally not into that stuff,” he says.
Still, he says, he offered to sell it back to them at cost. ”They laughed at me and said they don’t have that kind of money,” he recalls. Mr. Hatch razed the house, built a bigger one and sold it to a family last year for $3.2 million.
Founded by English colonists in 1640, Greenwich evolved into an exclusive retreat from nearby New York. In 1848, a railroad linked the town to Manhattan. By the 1920s, Greenwich had one of the country’s highest per capita incomes.
One of the earlier arrivals from New York was James McCutcheon, who made a fortune in the linen trade. In 1886, a Boston architect built him a house of rough-faced granite blocks and archways. Nils Kerchus, a consultant to the nonprofit Greenwich Historical Society, says he scoured Connecticut for another residential specimen of the style – Richardsonian-Romanesque, like Boston’s landmark Trinity Church – but found none.
In December, Rene Kern, managing director of the General Atlantic hedge fund, bought the property for $10.2 million. The seller was Arthur Malley, whose family had purchased it from the McCutcheons in 1927. Mr. Malley says his broker told him that Mr. Kern and his wife planned to renovate the house.
In February, according to town records, Mr. Kern applied for a demolition permit.
The city’s Historic District Commission imposed a 90-day stay to encourage the new owners to reconsider. ”I compare it to someone demolishing the pyramids in Egypt,” Mr. Malley says.
Mr. Kern declined to comment. A General Atlantic spokeswoman says Mr. Kern and his wife ”continue to evaluate all options for their home.”
At a town meeting last month, the commission proposed doubling the length of demolition stays to 180 days. Opponents argued the measure would interfere with property rights. The extension was voted down 96 to 81.
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