The elegant edifice that Alice Eldridge gifted to the town as a gymnasium in 1892 is suffering the ravages of time. Although the building on Maple Avenue, now Norfolk’s Town Hall, is still distinguished by Victorian-era flourishes that make it unique among the region’s municipal buildings, its side staircase is badly deteriorated.
First Selectman Matt Riiska hopes to repair it before he leaves office this November. “We will get work going on the stairs soon,” he promised this week. “We have a local mason who is willing to take on the job and he will work with the public works department to lift off the [heavier] stones.”
Because of its age, getting matching materials was an issue, but Riiska has an ace up his sleeve—when the state dismantled a bridge several years ago, it offered state municipalities the brownstone that was being removed. Riiska ended up with a treasure trove of the material stored at the town’s transfer station.
“Some of it was cut, but most of it is not,” he said, adding that he is working with the mason to figure out how to integrate it into the new staircase.
He said the brick used in the stairs is no longer available except by special order. “It was Perth Amboy Roman brick, which is narrower and has little flecks of iron in it,” he explained. “It was popular at the turn of the 19th century, but not now. We don’t need enough of it to justify a special order so we will blend in the brick we have with the brownstone.”
Riiska noted that the town, with Yankee frugality, saves everything. “We have granite curbing, slate, whatever. Some people even try to buy it from us,” he said.