THE THOMAS LYON HOUSE

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 The Thomas Lyon House is the oldest unaltered Colonial house in  Greenwich. Probably built circa 1695, it remains relatively unchanged  and retains a Colonial footprint established more that 300 year ago.  Moved nearly intact in 1927 from its first site on the north side of  Boston Post Road, this classic saltbox retains much of its original  building material. 

The house is also significant due to it's role in the Colonial American slave trade. Read more about it here: 

https://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Greenwich-house-once-home-to-escaped-slave-5754177.php

Greenwich Preservation Trust has included the documentation of early Slave families and the larger Freedom Trail story as an integral part of their mission to tell the full story of the Lyon Family.

 In 1922 the Atlantic Highway, which ran from Maine to Florida, was  renamed Route 1, and changes to the 2,400-mile road began in many  states. In Greenwich the road was slated to be widened in 1925, and town  leaders began to look for a suitable entryway to Greenwich, and, by  extension, to the rest of New England. 

The road was part of the ancient Boston Post Road system and retains that name in many places. In Greenwich it is called Putnam Avenue or US 1 today. 

Greenwich Preservation Trust takes it's commitment to preserving the house seriously. We continue to work with the Town to restore and find  an appropriate use for the Thomas Lyon House. Knowing that many of  Greenwich’s rich architectural heritage buildings were being threatened  with demolition, Greenwich Preservation Trust broadened their mission  statement to advocate for the preservation of ALL of the town’s historic  structures.   

 When Julia Lyon Saunders (the last of six generations of the Lyon family  to occupy the house) and her husband Chester realized her family’s home  would be demolished to accommodate the new road, they accepted an offer  from the Lions and Rotary clubs in 1925 to move it to the opposite side  of the road, on land the Town had purchased for the new Byram School,  to be used as the “Gateway to New England.” 

Moving the house meant that much of the existing context would be lost. The foundation, outbuildings, fences, plantings, and potentially significant archeological data, were all lost. But most importantly, the house was saved. In addition, much of the interior furnishings are artifacts were also preserved by the Lyon family.

Read about one of Thomas Lyon's son Joseph's  home "up the Byram River:

 https://greenwichhistory.org/ls_josephlyonhouse/

How did the house survive in a virtually unaltered condition for so long?

Starting in 1925, enough money was raised to move the house across the road  in 1927 to land leased from the Town, but there was little left to  restore the interior. The onset of The Great Depression in 1929 provided  a poor climate in which to raise funds for historic preservation.

After five years, the two clubs  decided to lease the house to The American Fence Company, who would use  one downstairs room as an office and restore the interior and make it  available for visitors interested in Colonial homes and history. An  article in the Greenwich Press on April 7, 1932, states that “the shrine  is not to be commercialized or its value as a historic spot lessened by  offensive advertising.” Road maps and other information for the passing  motorist would be provided and the clubs mentioned the possibility of a  room set aside to display historical documents and relics.

Two months later, the Lions and  Rotary clubs opened it to the public on June 28, 1932. Unfortunately,  not enough tourists or passing motorists showed interest in visiting the  site. The clubs then decided to rent the house and use the income for  their philanthropies, which they did for nearly 70 years.

In 1980 the Rotary Club ceded their interest to the Lions  Club Foundation. When repairs to the house became too costly, they gave  the house to the Town, which assumed legal responsibility for it in  January 2007. The Town maintains the site and has removed 20th-century  material that marred the house’s exterior.

The Thomas Lyon House has attracted  the interest of architectural historians throughout the 20th century. It  was included in a Works Progress Administration study in the 1930s, the  Connecticut Statewide Inventory of Historic Houses in 1966, and listed  on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It is mentioned in  J. Frederick Kelly’s The Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut and Florence S. Crofut’s Guide to the History and the Historic Sites of Connecticut.