Letter: Huge house mocks neighborhood

Huge house mocks neighborhood

Somehow, the town of Fairfield has allowed the construction of what has to be the most annoying, out of place, uncharacteristic monstrosity of a dwelling that this onetime quaint New England town has ever seen.

If you happen to be driving down South Benson Road toward the water and make a right turn on Judson, you will encounter a wall of wood the size of a tsunami, and you will probably have to slow down from shock and disbelief.

When you stop to look closer, you will see a design that not only lacks congruity with the existing beautiful homes along the street, but mocks its surrounding neighbors with the sheer absurdity of its height and breadth and the brashness, even arrogance of its design. If this were Dubai, or Malibu, or anywhere else where it could be hidden and protected among a large lot, a grove of trees or a canyon, then OK, but here in Fairfield, with a lot size barely larger than the footprint of the structure?

What law, what loophole, what oversight in our residential zoning laws has allowed such a thing to happen? And if all laws, codes, setbacks and easements were followed to the letter, then who in God's name is writing those codes, who is approving and updating those codes and do they reflect what we want our town to look like? As a town, we should be answering these questions right now.

Everyone in New England and beyond knows about Fairfield. The town is steeped in colonial history, its structures are lauded in architectural books, its Old Post Road homes represent some of the finest of their kind and the first of their kind in American architectural history, and this structure mocks all of the above in my opinion.

Now, as the son of a real estate developer, I have always believed that one should have the the legal right to maximize the value of his or her land and holdings in ways which he or she alone deem appropriate while abiding by established codes. But this is not really what we are dealing with here. We are dealing with an irreversible trend that has the ability of ruining the character of the town, and that hurts everybody.

Don't take my word for it; drive by yourself, and make your own judgment. Then tell me if I am wrong.

Paul Brown

Fairfield