By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A barn that has stood at 1 Elmstead Lane for more than 200 years — it even was partially burned by the British in the Revolutionary War — has survived another attempt to dismantle it.

The barn’s owners were sent back to the drawing board by town officials Tuesday in an effort to keep the barn from being taken apart and put back together as part of a newly built, three-bedroom home.

Read more about the barn’s history and the application here.

The action took place at a joint meeting of the Architectural Review Board and Historic District Commission.

“You’re not really saving the barn. You’re saving some materials from the barn,” Jon Halper, a member of the ARB, told the applicants. “It’s a very aggressive proposal in my mind.”

“There are two barns standing quite proud,” on the property, said ARB member Vesna Herman. 

The plan to demolish a small barn on the property as well as take apart the larger one, using its siding and timbers inside a new house would create a building that would not resemble the original barn at all, she said.

The application was presented to the two panels by Gloria Gouveia, a land-use consultant, representing Raymond Jordan, manager of the family trust that owns the 2.4-acre property.  

The applicants were hoping the boards would recommend approval of the plan for the new house, as well as a subdivision of the property into two lots, to the Planning and Zoning Commission. 

One of the subdivided lots would be the site of the new house incorporating the historic barn materials, and the other lot would be for the property’s original historic house. The house was to eventually be renovated using funds from the sale of the new house-barn, Gouveia said. 

After ARB members objected to the plan as presented, Gouveia withdrew the application, promising to come back with a plan that preserved the barn, instead. She pledged to work with officials to come up with a better plan.

“We do need another solution,” agreed Bill Harris, chairman of the Historic District Commission. 

He suggested that taking steps to preserve the barn, such as building a new foundation and stabilizing the frame, would be less expensive for the owners then taking apart the structure and assembling a new house using its timbers and siding.

“We want to work with you,” Harris said. 

The barn was vandalized in the past few years and its large doors and siding were stolen, Jordan told the boards. The family considered selling the property, he said, but instead paid thousands of dollars to repair the damage caused by the vandalism. 

Jordan thanked the boards for the suggestion of preserving the barns where they stand, and building a separate new home on the property. He agreed that he and Gouveia would work with the ARB in a pre-application process that would include preserving the barn.

“The property is worth keeping intact for Westport,” he said.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and currently teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.