Historic Properties of Greenwich is working to protect five properties from demolition, including a circa-1840 house the nonprofit purchased with co-investors in July.

Executive Director Jackie Wetenhall laid out the pipeline at a gathering of more than 60 people at the Round Hill Community House, as first reported by the Greenwich Sentinel. HPG President Elise Hillman Green welcomed the crowd. "We are here to celebrate any owner of an historic home, protected or not!" she said.

The five properties span neighborhoods including Cos Cob and Riverside:

1. Cos Cob Mill Pond Park — a roughly 1.21-acre town-owned parcel at 0 Strickland Road that holds Greenwich's second-oldest cemetery. According to Patch, the park's inclusion in the Strickland Road Local Historic District would complete an initiative that began in 1968, when residents petitioned the town to designate the area as a historic site.

2. The William B. Tubby Jr. House — a Tudor Revival home on North Street. Owners Marjorie and Guy Smith spoke at the event. Marjorie Smith said the couple bought the house in 1984. She described discovering original construction documents from the elder Tubby, a noted architect who also designed Waveny Hall and Dunellen Hall.

3. The Albert C. Hencken House — a Tudor Revival built around 1903. Owners Pug and Dee Winokur told the crowd the house was designed by architect John Russell Pope, who also designed the Jefferson Memorial and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The home sits on about two and a half acres, down from the original 16-acre tract.

4. 35 Maher Avenue — a Colonial Revival built around 1902. According to the Greenwich Sentinel's October coverage, the owner of 31 years wrote to the Historic District Commission (HDC) that four houses on the street had been demolished during that time. "I do not want this to happen to this beautiful, stately home that I've been blessed to temporarily care for," the owner wrote.

5. The Captain Charles Hendrie House — circa 1840, off Riverside Avenue. This one marks a new strategy for HPG. Wetenhall told the gathering the house went on the market in the summer of 2026, and HPG with co-investors purchased it in July. The organization plans to modernize the home and resell it with protected status.

That buy-protect-resell model builds on HPG's earlier work. The group's first project was the 1760 Samuel Ferris House at 1 Cary Road in Riverside, which the organization bought, protected and then sold to a buyer who restored it.

Getting a property protected is not quick. Green described a process that starts with the HDC, moves through the Board of Selectmen and Planning and Zoning Commission, goes up to the state level and returns for a final vote by the Representative Town Meeting (RTM). HPG was founded in 2019 to guide homeowners through that process.

Riverside homeowner Susan Morris, now an HPG board member, said the effort was worth it. "It really took one phone call and then their team got into action," Morris said. HPG produced a study report of more than 20 pages covering her circa-1894 Redman-Fitzgerald House and its neighborhood.

The organization now counts about 60 protected properties across three local historic districts and eight standalone designations, according to the Greenwich Sentinel's October coverage. Green noted that owners can do anything they like inside a protected home. Exterior changes require a certificate of appropriateness from the HDC. "It's not a museum," she said. "It's a livable home."

Residents interested in protecting a historic property can contact HPG at [email protected].