The Most Important Threatened Historic Places – Updates: Shelley House, Madison

 Shelley house, Madison (2006). Individually listed on the National Register for its early-18th-century architecture, the Shelley house sat vacant for several years and needed work. The house’s location on the busy Boston Post Road also led to fears that it could become another victim of commercial development. It was purchased by John Herzog, a member of the Connecticut Trust’s Advisory Council.      

Before buying the Shelley house, Herzog had already acquired and begun restoring another endangered Colonial dwelling in Madison: the David Field house of the 1720s, which had been allowed to fall into serious disrepair (it was offered for sale through the Trust’s Historic Properties Exchange in 2004). Unfortunately, much was lost to deterioration and vandalism during the period of neglect. Clapboards, windows, some structural elements, and all the plaster walls had to be replaced, and part of the interior paneling and sheathing had disappeared. But the house is still a presence in the landscape, and contractors Gulick & Spradlin are restoring it to usefulness and its historic appearance.