Its slate-roofed carriage house, directly opposite, serves as Rowayton's community center and library, whose renovation is expected to be completed this year.
I called a friend and neighbor, Amy Sanderson, a registered architect whose renovation of her own heavy-duty kitchen I admire.
And recently, the former barn, whose renovation won an award from the Council for the Protection of Rural England for its design, has been licensed as a site for civil marriages.
Hundreds of buildings, from the South Bronx to central Brooklyn, whose renovation and rescue from ruinous debt were critical to the rebirth of blighted neighborhoods, are again in severe financial trouble.
Across the street, Ms. Sexton displays her work in a light-filled space inside the Lambertville House, a hotel built in 1812 whose renovation a decade ago served as a milestone in the town's rebirth.
The main sessions will take place inside a cavernous former supersonic wind tunnel, whose renovation, by the Santa Monica firm Daly, Genik Architects, won't be complete for a few weeks.
In 1993 the Metropolitan Museum, of which Mr. Mitchell was a trustee, presented an exhibition of his objects in a gallery whose renovation he financed and that the museum renamed the Jan Mitchell Treasury.
"This is one of the three oldest houses in Norwich and can be traced directly to a city founder," said Mr. Butcher, whose renovation proposal was selected from among 21 applicants.
