In 50 years, a lot can happen.
Looking back on the last half-century that the town has owned Waveny Park in New Canaan, that’s clear. This year, we celebrate 50 years since acquiring the former oil magnate estate — approximately 300 acres — from Ruth Lapham Lloyd, for the bargain price of $1.5 million. Fifty years later, it’s a font of entertainment and education: weddings and 4th of July celebrations at Waveny House, art exhibits at the Carriage Barn Center for the Arts, performances at the Powerhouse Theatre, paddle tennis at Waveny Lodge, baseball games near the water tower, yoga at the Lapham Community Center, and miles of trails among its offerings.
But 50 years have also put wear and tear on Waveny Park’s buildings and left some fields overgrown. The pond will disappear altogether if not dredged, and the house needs restoration to bring it into the 21st century and make it American Disabilities Act compliant. What’s more, despite its historically significant past, the park is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In this, the final of our three-part series on Waveny Park: it’s past, present and future, we talked to the many players involved in bringing the town’s most valuable resource through the next 50 years.
Preserving a town treasure
In 2012, the New Canaan Preservation Alliance began work getting Waveny on the National Register of Historic Places. The estate has ties to nationally significant people and businesses in American history: patriarch Lewis Lapham founded the Texas Oil Company, which is today known as Texaco, Inc., Olmsted Brothers landscape architects (sons of Frederick Law Olmsted who designed Central Park) designed the grounds, esteemed turn-of-the-century architect William B. Tubby designed the house, interior design firm Herter Looms designed the interiors, including the intricate murals that still adorn the walls today, and actor Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future fame who is Lapham’s grandson, grew up on the property. Locally, family matriarch Antoinette Lapham was a founding member of the New Canaan Garden Club and national treasurer of the YWCA during World War I, and their son Jack was the first to land an airplane in New Canaan.
Also in 2012, the New Canaan Preservation Alliance (NCPA) began raising money to preserve the property. They raised more than $30,000 with a fundraiser celebrating the home’s 100th anniversary. The alliance presented a check to the Town for $27,830 to facilitate two specific restoration projects: cleaning the limestone fireplace, which was completed in 2015, and repairing wood floors, which has yet to be completed. NCPA also facilitated the Town’s restoration of the Herter Looms tapestry over the fireplace.
“As a preservation architect I can tell you the house itself is really amazing,” says Rose Scott Long, who is facilitating the National Register of Historic Places nomination for Waveny Park. The interiors, in particular, are not only designed by a renowned firm but also unusual. “[Herter Looms] didn’t do many interiors, and definitely not many that are still intact,” said Long.
The application process has the support of the town but is taking some time. “There are a lot of moving pieces as this is a volunteer project,” said Long. “It requires coordination and advice from the State Historic Preservation Office, which has deemed Waveny Park eligible by the National Register Coordinator at SHPO.”
Home remodel
Meanwhile, the town has begun work repairing Waveny House with taxpayer dollars, starting with the roof. With or without its designation as a historic building, the house has to be brought up to ADA compliance because it is a government building. “That will require major changes to the way you see the house now,” said Stephen Benko, director of the town’s Recreation Department. While the roof has been an easy fix, the next phase will get tricky. “How do you keep the character of the house?” ponders Benko. The town is looking at ways to apply for exemptions under the ADA code. “That’s going to be the biggest challenge,” he adds.
A historic register designation will not change what the town can and cannot do during the renovation. “It doesn’t restrict anything,” said Long. “I think the main thing to do is make sure you have the right people giving you feedback and to make sure you listen to people who are knowledgeable. It’s not just whether it looks like it should. You want to make sure you use the right materials that will give the longest performance. If you don’t, you have deterioration.”
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi III has appointed a Town-wide Building Evaluation and Use Committee to study maintenance, repairs and upgrades that are needed and the optimal uses for each building, including the Waveny mansion. The report is due in October.
Restoring the grounds
Deterioration is what the Town is trying to combat outside the house, too. Renting out the house for events helps cover operating costs, but maintenance and upkeep inside and out require a bit more. That’s where the Waveny Park Conservancy has come in. The non-profit organization was founded in June 2015 after the idea occurred to Town Councilman Kevin Moynihan and was supported by fellow councilmen Penny Young and Bill Walbert.
“I first came up with the idea at a Jazz night dinner at the Country Club in September 2014 where Mimi Findlay was my dinner partner and we were discussing the Preservation Alliance’s desire to list Waveny on the National Historic Register,” Moynihan said in an email to the Advertiser. “I suggested that we needed a non-profit like the Central Park Conservancy to be able to restore and preserve the mansion and the grounds with proper resources.”
Its mission is to work in partnership with the Town government to ensure Waveny Park thrives in perpetuity.
Activities at Waveny Park are divided into three parts: Near the house are the cultural activities — parterre gardens, playhouse theater and arts center. North of the house are the active recreation grounds — ball fields, the community center, paddle tennis, the dog park. South of the house is used for passive recreation — fields, a pond, walking trails, etc.
Waveny Park Conservancy Chairman Bob Seelert told the Advertiser, “We put the board together in 2015 focused on the 130 acres abutting Waveny south of the east / west entrance road. We’ve assembled the board with the best forest and garden minds in New Canaan.”
Board members include a garden club expert, an art historian, a past parks and recreation chairman, a certified master gardener and a landscape architect, among others.
Five projects
They have divided up the restoration into five projects.
The first program is the enhancement of the South Avenue entryway. Trails near the entrance and the long winding drive leading up to the house are the focus there. “There are a lot of weddings at Waveny House,” said Seelert. “People ought to have the feeling they are driving into a spectacular kind of place.”
The group has completed three projects in this area so far: two improvements to the trail system and extending it to the west parking lot. More work will be done this summer, including widening trails and replacing bridges.
The second program will be to restore the corn fields, which are about 300 yards east of Waveny House. Ten to 15 years ago, dredgings from Mill Pond and Mead Park were placed there. Invasive plants have taken over the fields. “We are going to dig up and dispose of these phragmites, regrade it and plant a cover crop,” said Seelert. Work on the corn fields begins this summer. Once that’s complete, the group will return to plant a perennial wildflower garden with benches and trails.
“It will be a place for contemplating life and relaxing,” said Seelert. That project has a price tag of $300,000 but it also has a donor to make it possible: Jeniam Foundation, founded by New Canaanite Andrew Clarkson, a philanthropist and parks supporter.
The third program will be the pond. Seelert said he moved to New Canaan in 1971. Back then, his kids used to walk to Waveny pond, chase frogs and go fishing. Now the pond is filled with mud and on the brink of becoming wetlands. The restoration would fix spillways, dredge and reline the pond with stones and restore the pond to its original size. “When Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., designed the place, it was one of the central features of the design,” said Seelert. “Over the course of 100 years, it’s fallen into disarray and you wouldn’t even know it was there.”
Beyond the pond, fields and trails, the conservancy also has completed a forest study to establish sound forest management practices and wants to be an advocacy group for planting, “the right kind of trees in the right kind of places for the next 100 years,” said Seelert. Plus, plans have begun with the New Canaan Garden Club to restore the parterre gardens near the house.
Private support
To raise money for these projects, particularly the pond restoration, the conservancy has planned a tailgate party Oct. 7 and a 50th Anniversary Gala on Dec. 2 to celebrate the Town’s 1967 acquisition of Waveny. Christopher Lloyd has agreed to be the honorary chairman. While he has chosen to keep stories of his childhood growing up at Waveny private, Lloyd shared with the conservancy his thoughts on the property’s restoration at a kick-off event for the anniversary held March 1.
“My mom would be so pleased to see what all of you are doing,” said Lloyd to lead donors and volunteers. “It’s exactly what she hoped, to preserve this place, for it to be a park where the people of New Canaan, and wherever else, could come and play, take a walk in the woods … get married.”
Honoring a legacy
With Lloyd’s support and support from donors, the conservancy and the town hope to preserve not only the grounds but the memory of Ruth Lapham Lloyd, who gave the town its greatest resource when she sold parts and gave other parts of her property to New Canaan.
“Mrs. Lloyd is somebody who ought to be remembered by the town,” said Seelert. “Her name ought to be revered and honored by the town.”
Fifty years ago, there was no community center, no arts center, no theater, no ball fields, no paddle tennis courts, no dog park, no wedding venue, no giant field to hold fireworks and no senior care facility. “It was all the result of public/private partnerships and people working together to bring these things to fruition,” said Seelert. “That story has made a tremendous difference to the town of New Canaan and what it is. There are a lot of interesting and amazing transformational things that have happened.”
Not many other towns have a 260-acre park, agreed Benko. “Other towns are a little jealous of what we have. We welcome everybody. We get a lot of nonresidents.”
“The town owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to Mrs. Lapham Lloyd,” added Seelert. “It’s an incredible story.”
Here is part 3 of the New Canaan Advertiser’s series on Waveny Park. Map of Waveny Park. Plans from Keith E. Simpson Associates landscape architects show the location of the pond that will connect to the existing trail system. Waveny Park.
The pond will be dredged and restored as a park focal point. The old photo of formal gardens, looking east from the mansion patio, will be a guide for restoration. — Artwork courtesy Keith Simpson Associates
This new section of trail is along the Waveny Park entrance road from South Avenue. This type of trail will be constructed in three different areas of the park this summer. — Keith E. Simpson Associates photo
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