‘Green’ Homes To Rise Around Historic Derby Mansion

Fred MusanteA Woodbridge-based developer plans to build homes designed with the future in mind on a property associated with Derby’s historical past.

The property is the site of the Yudkin/Singer mansion at the corner of Sodom Lane and David Humphreys Road, an elegant stone structure that is a link to the Roaring Twenties.”

Developer Mark Nuzzolo said he plans to build an eight-unit subdivision that will surround the stately home from a bygone day with seven new single-family residences employing 21st century energy efficiency technology.

While the new homes will look forward into the future, the site plan will attempt to save as much of the past as possible.

Nuzzolo said old stone walls will be repaired and, in some cases, relocated to preserve the historic character of the property, and the landscaping plan will rip out invasive plants and replaced them with native species.

As for the mansion, Nuzzolo hasn’t decided what to do. The structure needs so much work, he said, that the land beneath it is worth more than the house is.

Ideally, he might find a buyer with the resources and inclination to restore the house, he said.

Otherwise, he must make some tough choices about how much to modernize.

But either way, Nuzzolo is committed to keeping it rather than tearing it down.

Article continues after photo of the mansion itself, from the website of Nuzzolo’s company.

401-David-Humphrey

Background

The mansion was built by industrialist Walter Randall and his bride, Olive Vouletti Whitlock Randall, in 1927 on a tract of about 200 acres of farmland.

Olive was a granddaughter of Isaac Merritt Singer, the inventor of the first practical sewing machine for home use, which made him one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Harold and Ida Yudkin purchased the house in 1950. Yudkin was one of Derby’s most prolific housing developers, responsible for building about 400 homes in the city, as well as the shopping center now occupied by Lowe’s home improvement store that abuts the back of the 5.85-acre subdivision property.

Harold’s second wife, Selma Yudkin, donated the property to the Valley Community Foundation, and Nuzzolo purchased it for $485,000 in 2011.

Last November, the Derby Planning & Zoning Commission approved his development plan.

Nuzzolo said the commission deserves a great deal of credit for being able to see the advantages of his unusual, ambitious plan, instead of demanding a more conventional development.

New Plan

He said the obvious plan would have been to build at least four new houses with individual driveway access onto Sodom Lane and David Humphreys Road, but that would have meant destroying the old stone walls ringing the property.

Instead, Nuzzolo wants to preserve the natural contours and manmade features on the property.

Fred MusanteThe wall along David Humphreys Road will be repaired, and a second wall partway up the slope will be disassembled and relocated as an extension along Sodom Lane.

All of the houses will have driveway access from a private road off Humphreys Road. Four of them will face the mansion and three more will be constructed on the northern section of the property.

The new houses will have traditional architecture, but Nuzzolo said their energy efficiency ratings will be anything but conventional. All of them will feature photovoltaic solar panels, high performance energy-efficient construction, and energy-efficient furnaces, hot water heaters and air conditioning.

The first house, the sales model which he plans to start construction on soon, will be entered into the state’s Zero Energy Challenge competition. 

I’m talking about heating this house for about $100 a year,” he said.

Nuzzolo said energy efficiency makes a lot of sense in Connecticut, where land prices and house construction costs are expensive. By cutting the cost of living in the house, it leaves the owner more money to spend on his mortgage.

From a consumer perspective, no question energy is at or near the top of the list. It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

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