Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth Monroe Ct
Convent looks to downsize
Monroe castle owner John Kimball filed a proposal Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 to build a new convent for the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth and remove the electric current edifice at 1428 Monroe Turnpike in Monroe, Conn.
Autumn Driscoll
MONROE -- Possibly this is a sign. A sign from above.
On the cusp of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth'southward 51st anniversary of acquiring the land to build the convent that has been their home for almost a half-century, a new application is circulating at Town Hall to construct a new smaller, more energy-efficient convent.
Call it downsizing from a 100,000-square-foot building to a cozier 28,814-foursquare-foot abode with 28 bedrooms for the nuns who live at the Marian Heights holding on Monroe Turnpike.
"It volition be a beautiful, Colonial-style building with gabled and hip roof and some native stone elements," said John Kimball, of the Kimball Group, which plans to construct the nuns' new home. "It will be fully sprinklered and handicapped attainable.
The reason for replacing the existing building, which is about 100,000 square feet, is that it'due south very expensive for them to operate and they're simply using about xx per centum of information technology."
Kimball projects that the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth could save up of half a meg dollars annually on their utility bills. The building has simply a single heating zone, and that, he said, drives up utility costs.
The new convent would take a 32-seat chapel, and all seven of the stained-glass panels that are in the convent's chapel would be incorporated into the new one. The panels are 4 feet wide and 12 feet loftier.
"Taken together, they tell a story," Kimball said, "And when the lite shines through them, it's a beautiful sight."
In March, Kimball purchased a stone castle on sixteen.8 acres for $602,000 from the nuns on the front portion of their 124-acre property. The castle had fallen into disrepair in recent years, with damage from the elements and a fire. Kimball, who loves old homes, is restoring the castle to its former splendor and intends to move his family and his concern into it.
"The construction is all the same in the talking stages," Sister Marita, who oversees the convent, said. "We bought the belongings in 1962, acquiring the castle portion of it from Lisa Roma Trompeter, (a local musical celebrity), and the remaining acreage from a (well-known) Dr. Daniel Banks," who was a benefactor of many Catholic charities.
The holding, which was described in a serial of 1962 deeds every bit woodland and farmland for grazing, was Banks' weekend retreat for decades.
The sisters opened a school for aspiring nuns on Sept. eight, 1965, and afterwards the Marian Heights Academy, a parochial girls' schoolhouse from 1968 through 1980. Since then, the convent has been used as a residence for nuns, and a portion of the building was used as a pastoral retreat for priests and lay people.
The boondocks's Department of Conservation will carry the first review of the project, considering the state where the new convent would become is 100 feet from wetlands.
"There are no wetlands where the convent would go," Kimball said, "but because it's 100 anxiety from them, the (conservation) department has jurisdiction over it."
The project would demand a special-exception let from the town's Planning and Zoning Commission, only no zone change.
mgbrown@ctpost.com; 203-330-6288; twitter.com/MariAnGailBrown
Source: https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Convent-looks-to-downsize-4760007.php
0 Response to "Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth Monroe Ct"
Post a Comment