The house at 125 Riverside Avenue was built in 1810, a saltbox with the long rear roofline that gives the type its name. This summer it was on track to be saved, not by a ban on demolition, which Westport largely does not have, but by a preservation easement, the Westport Journal reported in July. The town had amended Section 32-18 of its zoning regulations in February to encourage preservation.
The case illustrates a broader point. In most of Westport, the law does not stop an owner from taking down an old house. Saving one usually depends on an agreement.
What the town can and cannot do
Westport’s preservation tools come in two strengths.
The first applies almost everywhere. Under the town’s demolition delay ordinance, Section 14-21 of the code, any building at least 50 years old and larger than 500 square feet is subject to a 180-day waiting period before it can come down. The delay is waived if no one objects. Its purpose is time, to let someone propose an alternative or find a buyer who wants the house.
The second is much stronger and much narrower. Properties inside one of the town’s seven local historic districts, and the 22 individually designated local historic properties, fall under the Historic District Commission. Exterior work visible from a public way needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, and the commission can refuse to allow demolition. As 06880 explained in a 2023 look inside the commission, that power applies only to designated properties.
Designation as a strategy
Because designation is the strongest protection, preservationists pursue it house by house. In July the Westport Journal reported that a 1910 Colonial Revival house at 190 North Avenue had been recommended for historic designation.
The record shows why advocates move early. In 2011, 06880 reported that the Henry Munroe House at 108 Cross Highway, built in 1805 and documented as the work of a free Black builder, was under threat. In 2007 the town lost Paul Rudolph’s Micheels House on Minute Man Hill despite an injunction attempt by the state’s attorney general. This August the Westport Journal published its farewell notice for 11 Beachside Common, a 1971 contemporary making way for a $22.8 million new house.
The rescues
The successes tend to involve a buyer with patience. Ed Gerber bought the 1764 Sturges-Wright House on Cross Highway in 2010 specifically to keep it from being demolished, restored it, and saw it listed on the National Register in 2015. The architect Christopher Pagliaro’s renovation of an 1892 farmhouse at 70 Turkey Hill Road South won a local preservation award in 2021, 06880 reported.
For buyers and sellers
If you are buying an older house to replace it, the 180-day clock belongs in your schedule and your carrying costs. Ask the Historic District Commission before you sign whether the property is in a local district or on the list of designated properties. If it is, plan on a renovation, not a replacement.
If you are selling an older house and care what happens to it, an easement or a designation before the sale can set terms that survive you. It can also narrow your pool of buyers, and that trade-off is worth discussing with your attorney and agent before you list. The Seller’s Desk can talk it through with you.
Sources
- Westport Journal, Agreement on track to save 125 Riverside, July 7, 2026
- Westport Journal, 1910 Colonial Revival home recommended for historic designation, July 30, 2026
- Town of Westport, Demolition delay ordinance, accessed Oct. 2026
- Town of Westport, Local historic districts and local historic properties, accessed Oct. 2026
- 06880, Tear down that house? Inside Westport’s Historic District Commission, May 15, 2023
- 06880, Historic homes, accessed Oct. 2026
- 06880, George Hand Wright, accessed Oct. 2026
- Westport Journal, Say goodbye to 11 Beachside Common, Aug. 14, 2026
- Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture, Micheels Residence, accessed Oct. 2026
