Killingly, Conn.
ARCHITECTS
Patrick Pinnell
Patrick Pinnell Architecture & Town Planning
Chester, Conn.
(860) 526-3000
PROPERTY
104 acres along a busy road in Killingly, Conn., including stone walls, streams, two horse barns and a shed. Asking price: $1.5 million.
RENOVATION COST Construction of an owner?s house with both classical and western touches, to be carried out in two stages; restoration of the barns if feasible; and construction of more buildings over the span of 20 years. Cost of house: beginning at $130,000 for the first stage and $130,000 for the second. Cost of renovating the barns: beginning at $125,000.
REAL ESTATE AGENTS
Patti Brooks
Horse Country Real Estate
East Lyme, Conn.
(860) 442-4237
Multimedia
Audio Slide Show
Open Space That Works
As Mr. Pinnell envisions it, the farm would begin to grow from two barns into a complex with an owner's house and workers' housing, above.
THE 104-acre piece of land, advertised as a horse farm, is striking, and not just because of the contrast between its pristine nature and its surroundings. It lies down the street from an abandoned discount chain store, across the street from an almost unbroken line of tiny bungalows and old workers’ housing.
The property itself is stunning: ribbons of antique stone walls, streams and pine-punctuated meadows, with the right mix of lilt and tilt to the landscape to make it interesting.
In this part of northeastern Connecticut — referred to as “the quiet corner” in tourism advertisements — Patrick Pinnell, an internationally known architect and planner who calls himself “a card-carrying New Urbanist,” set out to make something special out of this acreage, currently occupied only by two rather dilapidated barns and a shed.
He wanted to create not just a house but an entire family horse farm, helping those who bought the property — now for sale for $1.5 million — and maybe the town, which wants to regain its past prosperity.
Arriving one icy morning not long ago, Mr. Pinnell hit the ground, not running but clutching a large Google Earth map of the place and already talking about a 20-year plan for the property. “There’s a lot of beauty and quiet countryside and villages in this part of the state,” he said, “but it’s also pretty hardscrabble and has been for close to 100 years.”
Patti Brooks, who with her husband, Bob, runs Horse Country Real Estate, said the property, at the corner of Route 101 and Cook Hill Road, was almost sold a few months ago. The prospective buyers “wanted to put a farm store here” and train immigrant workers in farming skills, she said, but that plan didn’t work out.
To Mr. Pinnell, the fact that the property was currently a struggling equestrian business was fascinating. “The first thing is to explore making this a destination,” he said. He decided right away not to turn one or more of the barns into the main house. Instead, he designed an owner’s farmhouse in two phases. If the farm succeeded, Phase 2 would be built.
“If you were the owner, you’d want something nice for yourself, so you could be there to watch the business as it grew,” he said, making rough sketches in a leather-bound notebook. “Then maybe some cottages for staff or guests.” Responding to a raised eyebrow, he said, “Hey, people have done far crazier things!”
As he explored the old barns, redolent of hay and animals, he spoke of prevailing winds and the ever-present road, with its grinding rumble of cars and tractor-trailers.
To Mr. Pinnell, the farm presented “an exemplary challenge.”
“To keep saying ‘open space’ as a term is maddeningly meaningless,” he said. “People in their woozy way repeat like a mantra: ‘We’ve got to preserve open space.’ Instead of buying up open space, towns should be figuring out how to turn land into real working land that’s in use every day.”
One week later, back in his office, Mr. Pinnell switched on the big screen of his computer and opened up his leather notebook to show the results of his planning. In the notebook: page after page of finely drawn pencil sketches, showing the 20-year plan for a riding operation — in phases — imagining one owner’s progression.
One concept, he said, might be to feature therapeutic riding: using horseback riding as a means of helping autistic or emotionally disturbed children. Besides the horses, there might be other farm animals to play with.
The first stage of the owner’s farmhouse would provide a basic but elegant practicality. The second stage would be much more luxurious.
But even before the first nail was pounded on the main house, Mr. Pinnell said, he would put gravel on the existing yards, and create a trellis/screen to delineate the parking yard. At the same time, he would try to salvage the barns.