Some concerned about frequency of downtown Meriden demolition

MERIDEN The demolition of the former Home Club, and the former Church and Morse and Meriden Auction House buildings just this year has some city residents and officials concerned about maintaining the character of the city, while others say the demolition is often necessary, and part of moving the Silver City forward.

Faced with the potential demolition of another building, on East Main Street, Mayor Manny Santos said, We dont need another hole in the citys downtown. There has to be something else the city can do.

Its a sentiment echoed by many in the wake of a year marked by redevelopment and razing downtown.

In April, city officials considered tearing down the aging clock tower atop City Hall, though ultimately decided to repair it. In August, while the Meriden Housing Authority presented plans to restore the former Professional Building on West Main Street, it also presented plans to tear down a century-old house next to it. In September, the Church and Morse and blighted Meriden Auction House properties on Colony Street were demolished as part of a larger downtown flood control plan, and just last month, the former Home Club, a privately-owned building on Colony Street, was razed.

All the buildings are listed in a state-run Historic Resource Inventory completed in November 2013 as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

More than a thousand current and former city residents have joined a social media page dedicated to Meridens heritage to bemoan the demolition, many questioning what the work is doing to the character of downtown.

Brian Cofrancesco, who heads the education department at Connecticuts Old State House in Hartford, said that the architecture of many of the buildings downtown is what got him interested in his profession.

These buildings hold a lot of importance to me; its upsetting to see whats going on downtown, he said.

Cofrancesco, who sits on the Meriden Historical Society Board of Directors added, Buildings are really one of the few tangible connections we have to the past. Meriden has such a rich history, and theres an emotional, aesthetic value to having a historic downtown. Blending them with more modern buildings: I think thats what shows great progress, not just tearing down layers of the city.

Oh, it definitely affects the character of the city, City Planner Dominick Caruso said of the work. The 2004 demolition of the former Jay Bees Luncheonette on East Main Street nearly brought a tear to my eye ... That building had been neglected though. The roof was caved in from a snow storm, and the snow just kept building up, there was no way to keep that building standing safely.

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Some concerned about frequency of downtown Meriden demolition