Firm Says Historic Tuttle Building Needs $846,000 in Roof Repairs

It has stood the test of time for over a century.

The Tuttle Building, an historic structure in downtown Naugatuck, still has some of the original slate counter tops and wood paneling from when it was built 120 years ago. It’s now the location of the central office for the Naugatuck Board of Education, although it still hasn’t shed the antiquated character it had when it was a private residence.

But, despite being structurally sound, the Tuttle Building has enough wear to its roof and exterior that it is in need $846,000 in repairs, according to one assessment.

Kaestle Boos Associates Inc. inspected the 380 Church St. building’s roof and interior in late 2009, locating a number of faulty areas in this 120-year-old Gilded Age building.

According to a report the firm filed March 2010, Kaestle Boos determined the slate roofs are in poor condition in a number of areas, gutters are damaged and bent in some places, the chimney caps are damaged and copper flashings — which adjoin sections of the roof — are rotting.

The original roof is leaking in one spot, and the building’s staff has set up buckets to catch the water. Other parts of the interior are visibly rotting, particularly on the fourth floor, and holes are visible in the dark attic of the building. Some rooms where offices are located have ceilings that have apparent water damage caused by the leaking roof.

“There’s no structural issues at this point,” said Superintendent John Tindall-Gibson. “But I’d like to see this building repaired because it has a lot of history in the town.”

According to the study, Kaestle Boos listed a line item break down of what the individual costs would be amounting to the final $846,000 bill. The account includes removing certain parts of the roof, doing an asbestos abatement, re-pointing the masonry and other specific problems.

In a municipality known for its architecture, the Tuttle Building lends a significant amount of notoriety to Naugatuck’s downturn historic district. Bronson B. Tuttle, the heir of a well known metal industry in the borough, financed the creation of the house in 1879. The building was designed by Architect Robert Wakeman Hill, and in 1881 the Queen Anne sandstone building was completed as a private residence for the Tuttle family, according to the National Registry of Historic Places.

On a tour through the building, Tindall-Gibson pointed to several stone fireplaces with ornate decorations.

“This is all original,” the school chief said, also pointing to a sink with an original slate countertop reminiscent of this Queen Victoria age.

In 1935, the family bequeathed this multi-floor building to the borough of Naugatuck for educational purposes. It served as one point as a school before eventually transitioning to an administrative building, the superintendent said. In 1990, local officials submitted the building to the National Registry of Historic Places and the Tuttle Building made the cut and was added to the list.

Tindall-Gibson, whose term as school chief ends in 2012, noted that the districts’ current school buildings — such as Naugatuck High School — have some structural issues. Those, he said, “have to be first priority.”

“But the value of this building is strictly as an asset to the town,” he said. “It’s an historic building that help’s define the character of the town.”

The work is strictly repairing the problems the building presents, Tindall-Gibson said, not restoring the building to its original condition as an opulent late-1880s edifice.

“That’d be really nice but that’s probably a few million (dollars),” he said.

The big question lies in the funding — which is a sore topic in a school district forced to lay off several teachers in the past two years because of massive budget deficits. Despite being on the National Registry of Historic Places, there’s no specific federal money available for a building like the Tuttle Building, said Roger Reed, historian at the National Registry of Historic Places in Washington D.C.

“There’s an income tax credit, but there’s only money for federal buildings that are specific landmarks,” Reed said.

Burgess Robert Neth, who sits on both the Long Term Facility Planning Committee and the Board of Education’s Capital Improvement Committee, said he knew the borough was looking into the Tuttle Building problems but he had only received the Kaestle Boos study this past week. Neth said the study has never come before the capital committee for any funds.

Neth, who gave his preliminary take on the report, said the building will have to be repaired although it depends on when that will be.

“The question is are we going to afford to do it right this minute while we have other projects that have to be addressed,” Neth said. “We still don’t know what’s the long-term future of this particular building.”

The repairs should be done while the building is at least still a Board of Education facility, argued Tindall-Gibson. Why? Because there is a reimbursement program available at the state level, which reimburses a municipality to the tune of 74 percent of the cost.

“As long as it’s a building used for school purposes, this reimbursement is available,” the school chief said. “If it’s done at some point later on, when the Board of Ed is not using it any more, [then] that would not be the case.”

For the borough to benefit from that reimbursement plan, it would have to submit a proposal to the state Board of Education. Then, if the state signed off on it, then the borough would eventually be cut a check of that 74 percent reimbursement, Neth said.

“That’s all well and good we still have the 26 percent of that to pay,” he said, noting the remaining $200,000 to $250,000 cost.

The Tuttle Building, while it is one of the buildings in need of repair, is just one on the list.

“Maple Hill being one,” he said. “Maple Hill definitely needs a roof.”

David Heller, a member of the Board of Education, said he is hopeful the borough can come up with the funding needed to fix up the building. Heller said the borough has been good on coming up with the appropriate funds.

“I’d hope they’d be able to repair the building in a time frame when it would avoid additional damage,” Heller said. “Hopefully it’ll be done soon enough where we’re not doubling or tripling the costs by the time we do it. The longer you wait, the more you there could be additional damage to leaks and problems.”