Rye Town Park group receives $200K Challenge Grant Toward ‘Decades of Neglect’ Tower Building

The group has already raised more than $90,000 toward their tower grant goal, according to Diana Page, president of the Friends of Rye Town Park.

See the article in the Rye Record here!

The neglected Tower Building - Photo by Howard Husock

The Friends of Rye Town Park announced they had received a $200,000 grant on Monday, bringing a much-needed tower building restoration project closer to reality.

The money was donated by the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim Foundation, pledging the hefty sum as long as the Friends group raises another $200,000 match by a June 30 deadline, according to Diana Page, president of the Friends of Rye Town Park.

Page’s “knees shook” a little bit, she said, when Ed Wachenheim approached her about the grant.

“We are deeply grateful to Sue and Ed Wachenheim for their generosity, and we are excited to meet this challenge,” Page said. “I’m thrilled, that building deserves the investment.”

The group has already raised more than $90,000 toward their challenge, she told The Record on May 18.

Located on Forest and Dearborn avenues, Rye Town Park is a 63-acre pavilion and greenspace overlooking the Long Island Sound that is co-owned by the city and town of Rye. It provides one of very few public access points to the water in Rye, and welcomes about 90,000 visitors each year.

The park’s tower building — in its Spanish mission style design — was first opened in 1909 and sits on the national and state historical registries. But the building has fallen into a complete state of disrepair due to what Page called “decades of neglect.”

The rehab work, if the funding match is met, would include repairing and restoring the stucco on the exterior of the building, restoring the eight quatrefoil “rosette” windows, and rebuilding the crumbling wall that runs from the building toward Dearborn Avenue.

“The rosette windows are a particularly special feature of this building,” said Page. “You see that shape repeated in the building’s entryway pillars, and on the dedication plaque which dates to the Building’s 1909 opening.”

Although the project bids initially came in at around $300,000, the group decided to expand the scope of the work, thanks to the sizable grant to $400,000, to include the upper windows of the tower building, whose sills are badly rotted and will now be completed restored.

Page said that the group will use as much money as they raise on projects around the park.

Millions are still needed though to structurally repair the tower building, infrastructure work that has long been stymied by the lack of a clear mission for the building’s dilapidated and dirty interior, where the Rye Town Park Commission once held its meetings.

The Friends group decided that, even absent such plans, it’s important to renovate the tower exterior, which catches the eye of any visitor.

In November, work also begun on the pavilions at the park — new roofs were being installed — and new “beach level” bathrooms were being constructed, utilizing money from the state Legislature. Both projects benefited from state grants.

“We could spend $10 million on the park tomorrow and still not realize all of its potential,” Page said.

“Where other communities strive to keep their beach exclusive to their residents, we are open and accessible to all, she added. “Our visitors deserve a magnificent space … not something that looks like it’s going to fall down on your head.”