By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The 1900 building at 36 Riverside Ave. spent the last half-century as restaurants. In the mid-1970s Pearl’s opened in the cozy space with a pressed-tin ceiling. In 1988, Da Pietro’s followed.

A plan to convert the two-story structure — with its old-fashioned, single-pane-window storefront — to a residential space was heard by the Architectural Review Board on Tuesday.

It flew back to the kitchen like a boomerang.

Board members had questions about roofing the exterior staircase, and clear concerns about replacing the 123-year-old structure’s front with facing brick and Anderson doors and windows.

Architect Julie Verni told the board the restaurant closed in 2020, and that there’s an apartment above it.

“We are looking to change the use to have just residential in the building,” she said.

One aspect of the plan is to enclose an outside staircase to the upstairs. She said refacing the façade with brick would be in line with the large building at the corner of Riverside and Post Road East.

“The front façade of the building is where we’re proposing most of the work,” Verni said. “… We will be replacing some windows, but we are not looking to make changes to the exterior anywhere except the main front façade on Riverside Avenue.”

Member Vesna Herman questioned the use of brick facing, and asked how it would mesh with the wood sides of the building.

“Right now, this building, for whatever it is, is a charming single building, with the quirkiness of what it is,” she said.

“What’s happening now, we do have the majority of the building, which is really on the side elevation, it’s still the same, which is this charming, shingled thing from New England,” Herman said. “And then we’re introducing the front elevation with a really different vocabulary, completely. I mean, everything is different here. Hundred percent.”

“I really would like this project to go forward,” Herman said, adding that she had questions “in regard to not appreciating this building for what it was and, doing something completely different.”

Member Jon Halper warned Verni she wouldn’t be happy with his comments.

“This is one of the prime entrances into Westport,” he said. “The building is a charming little hundred-plus-year-old Colonial structure, and it’s organized, it’s got an organized façade.”

“It looks New Englandy,” Halper said. “It looks Westport. And what you’re proposing does not, on too many levels, from the top little arch, to the oval window, to the horizontal transom windows, to the entranceway. The whole composition and the thin brick façade is not appropriate for this location.”

“That’s not to say that it has to be a remake of what’s there now, but as Vesna pointed out, the use of brick is not anywhere similar to what’s across the street,” he said. “Those are solid brick buildings that turn the corner. This is like brick wallpaper on it.”

Chairman Ward French did not offer comments. “Having two out of the three, we will not be able to pass this application,” he said.

Da Pietro’s closed in the 2020. The building, owned by Pietro and Janine Scotti, has a tenant in an upstairs apartment, but the intimate restaurant space sits vacant. It’s occupied by mothballed tables, antique chairs and kitchen equipment.

No. 36 Riverside has been home to a variety of businesses over the years.

Town directories show that from around the First World War it was owned by the Palmer family, though what businesses it might have housed were not detailed.

In the late 1950s, it was home to Liberty Laundry.

Then, in the early 1960s, J.T. Cahill, a surveyor, set up shop. It was later listed as Cahill and Loudin Associates, Surveyors.

Then came Pearl’s Restaurant in the ’70s (remember fondue?) through much of the ’80s, and finally Da Pietro’s.

The plan is to be heard by the Zoning Board of Appeals sometime soon. While ARB can make recommendations, its decisions are not binding. But the agency’s opinions are sought and considered by other agencies with approval powers.

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.