King House named to National Register

SHARON - Tucked into a quiet corner of Route 44 in Sharon is the King House, a rambling brick home that has just earned a singular honor: It has been granted a spot in the National Register of Historic Places.

To qualify for National Register status, a building (or site) must prove that it is not only architecturally significant but also historically significant. The King House is both. Built in 1794, it was originally the home of George King, a prosperous Sharon merchant who started out with a shop on the Sharon Green (known as King’s Stand) and later was "immensely successful as a real estate investor," according to a calender of historic sites published by the Sharon Historical Society. "The town records contain four pages of his transactions."He also served in the state Legislature and was active "in the life of the church."

The house remained in the King family until 1905, when it was sold to Sarah Foster Barr, a Brooklyn resident and "one of the many city dwellers who ‘discovered’ Sharon in this period," according to information about the house from the National Register. Barr remained in the house for fewer than 20 years; she eventually sold it back to the King family. The house, known as Kingsland, was purchased in 1924 by Caroline Brownson Hart, a great-great-granddaughter of George King.

Hart’s husband, Admiral Thomas Hart, provides the element of historical significance that the National Register requires. He was, according to the National Register documents, "a farm boy from Michigan who became a four-star admiral."

Even a concise summary of the events and accomplishments of his naval career can take up several pages. He began his career at age 15, in 1892, and by 1936 he had been named chairman of the General Board of the Navy and "was responsible for the composition and deployment of all naval forces." In 1939, he was promoted to four-star admiral and was given command of the Asiatic Fleet. His particular area of expertise was submarines and he was a pioneer in their use and development.

The Harts used Kingsland as a summer house and as a residence when the admiral was stationed in Connecticut or Rhode Island; they retired there full-time in 1944. The admiral died in 1971; his wife remained in the house until 1982. Her son, George, inherited the house and then sold it in 1983 to its current owners, Barclay Collins II and his wife, Kristina.

Walking through the house with Collins on a recent spring day, it’s evident that he feels less like a resident in the house than like a very high-level caretaker. Information on the history of the building and its owners, and all the restoration work he has overseen, flows easily from him as he moves through the rooms, pointing out handpainted wallpaper here, meticulously restored wood panels there.

His tour continues to the exterior of the house, and he points out something that is not always apparent to drivers as they rush by the house on their way to or from the Sharon shopping plaza: the Kingsland property extends back and down the slope, running parallel to the cemetery, and includes 12 acres of land (as well as a swimming pool and several outbuildings).

Although he’s a corporate attorney now, Collins was a history major and remains a history buff. He was until last year on the board for the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and he was on the board of the Sharon Historical Society. He decided "a couple years ago" to nominate the house for a spot on the National Register, and hired a consultant to help with the extensive documentation that the registry demands.

There are few advantages or disadvantages to being included on the register, according to Todd Levine, preservation services officer at the Connecticut Trust.

"It’s really an honorific," he said. Some tax credits are available, and federal funds can sometimes be found to help with historic preservation work. There are no restrictions associated with being included on the register; a building can be radically altered or even demolished. However, in Connecticut, once a property has earned a spot on the National Register it becomes eligible for protection by the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act. A citizen group can sue to prevent the destruction of a building under that law.

Much stricter than the National Register restrictions, Levine said, are the rules of the Historic District that includes the Sharon Town Green.

"In a local Historic District you can do nothing without a Certificate of Appropriateness issued by the local Historic District committee. You can’t alter anything in the public view except paint color. You can paint it pink with green polka dots but if you want to change any windows or doors or do exterior renovations, you first have to get that certificate from the Historic District."

Those restrictions apply, for the most part, only to the front and sides of a property (parts that are within "the public view").

There are some 50 Litchfield County properties on the National Register, including four in Sharon (the Gay Hoyt house, home to the Historical Society, on Main Street; the Cream Hill Shelter on Wickwire Road; and the Governor Smith Homestead on South Main Street).

Collins doesn’t have any substantial reasons for wanting the house on the register, other than that he is, legitimately, "house proud" and wants to see the property protected into the future.

"This isn’t a museum, it’s a place to live," he stressed. Furnishings are comfortable and suitably Old New England without being slavishly "period."

Nonetheless, he takes obvious pleasure from the fact that, occasionally, he receives letters addressed to "Curator: King House."