After two years away because of the pandemic, JELLO volunteered again to work at a NINA project site, this time at 847 Asylum.  The group of six cleaned up the site, removing debris and dust from the floor, and they put in a tremendous effort on our behalf.  We’re already looking forward to the next time they can volunteer!

There were some familiar faces at work today at 847 Asylum!  Jeff Giddings, Bob Rosenberg, and Mike Stockman worked on the framing for the new floor plans on the second floor. 

The old institutional kitchen is gone!  Also, there’s a bathtub in the parlor.  Meanwhile, upstairs, the new floor plan begins to take shape.

Some efforts at getting blue sky in the background at 847 Asylum, plus pigeons sunbathing.

The new floor plan is begiinning to take shape.

Andy Daly came back again today to volunteer, and he came with Chris Young of Travelers.  Chris, like Andy, has volunteered with us many times in the past but also not since the pandemic began.  They worked with our crew on interior framing.

Members of the legal team from The Hartford came over today to volunteer at 847 Asylum Avenue.  The group was organized by Andy Daly, president of our board of directors, and it was also organized as part of The Hartford’s annual Day of Caring.  This is the first time The Hartford has had its Day of Caring since 2019 due to the pandemic, and it was good to have them back.

After the hard work that the volunteers from Trinity College and Travelers put in, it seemed worthwhile to take a look around at what has been accomplished so far.  One shot includes some found wallpaper, and some interior framing has begun up on the third floor.

Today we had our first group of volunteers from Travelers, and they put in a great effort as they finished up with the Trinity College men’s hockey team started on Saturday.

We had the defense from the Trinity College’s men’s hockey team at 847 Asylum Avenue for Do It Day today, and we put them to work extracting old radiators and hauling wood for future interior framing into the house.  Several of these guys have worked for us before, and they’re already looking forward to coming back next year.  Go Bantams!

The wires have been left for the electrician, and the pipes for the plumber.

The big fridge (ice maker?) in the basement is also out.

The crew has not only finished up a good portion of the demolition, but they’ve cleaned up the site as well!

Volunteers were here today, removing doors and saving some of the extraordinary hardware we found on them.

The ServCorps gang dismantled the ramp along the west side of 847 Asylum, making very short work of it.  The crew included Rich Grobe, Ramon Martinez, Al McFadden (a neighbor from Ashley Street), Tony Mein, Amaury Serrano, and Mike Stockman.  This counts as the first work at this project.

Unfortunately, some of the trees around the Plimpton House were not doing so well, in fact they were dying, and we made the sad decision to remove them before they became a hazard to us and to our neighbors.  Grimshaw, a great and dedicated company, did a tremendous job, and they will re-purpose as much of the wood as they can.

I’m still getting a feel for how to photograph this house:  always back lit, but even on a “dull matte” day like to day it’s still in a harsh light.  I did get some fun shots, though.

I stopped by this morning to grab the keys in advance of closing on the sale of the Plimpton House, and I found this gift from the South Park Inn to NINA.  It was an extraordinarily thoughtful and generous gesture on their part, and we look forward to honoring their tenure as stewards of this remarkable building.

This is a stunner!  It’s the Linus Plimpton House, and it’s being cleaned out now in advance of our purchase.  Popular anecdote says it was built in 1884, but that’s the year Linus bought it.  We’re pretty sure the house was built maybe 20 years earlier – and we aim to prove it!  Meantime, here’s a peek at the inside.