A $20,000 grant from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation will be matched by the city of Norwalk and Friends of Cranbury Park to fuel the first steps of a revitalization plan for the historic Gallaher Estate, the cornerstone of the vibrant Norwalk park.

State senators Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) and Toni Boucher (R-Norwalk) and state reps Larry Cafero (R-Norwalk) and Terrie Wood (R-Darien, Norwalk) presented the city of Norwalk and Friends of Cranbury Park with a $20,000 check from the Historic Preservation Technical Assistance Grant program last Wednesday afternoon inside the Gallaher mansion. The HPTAG program is a collaborative historic preservation technical assistance program of the Connecticut Trust with funding from the Connecticut General Assembly, the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Commission on Culture & Tourism through the Community Investment Act.

The grant money will help “prepare an assessment of the conditions of the Gallaher house,” according to Helen Higgins, executive director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation.

“Once they have that information, they can put together a plan to get grants for the actual repairs,” she said.

Celia Maddox, president of Friends of Cranbury Park, said the grant will also fund a feasibility study for the Gallaher Estate, which is on the State Register of Historic Places. The study will “investigate ways the estate might generate some money for Cranbury Park,” Maddox said.

Problems with the historic house, which was built in the 1930s, include rain damage to the upper floors, erosion of the limestone windowsills, and a basement “that’s in rough shape,” Maddox said.

“We want to investigate the stability of the whole structure,” she said, adding only basic repairs have been conducted since the city purchased the house in 1965.

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