Some battles they win. When they lose, it's usually a familiar story. A public building gets so run down that it's cheaper to raze it and start over. An owner is too cash-strapped to make repairs, yet refuses to yield control, and everyone loses. Perhaps the most pernicious is the profit story: developers bent on clearing away historical structures to make room for McMansions. Projects to move historical structures usually end with their demolition.
The following landmarks are on borrowed time. They may vanish tomorrow or a year from now, so plan now for a last look.
Connecticut Yale Boathouse, New Haven. A two-story brick jewel with Flemish gables that sits right in the water. Crews used it as a clubhouse, enjoying its large fireplace and fine views. With the new Interstate 95 bridge under construction, the boathouse is doomed. The state considered moving it, but deemed it too costly. To see it, go southeast on Forbes Avenue parallel to I-95 and over the bridge. Stop and stare at 74 Forbes Ave.
Heirloom homes, New Haven. Yale University's lesser-known assets include three historic homes the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation fears will be lost through neglect. One is the 1830 Greek Revival at 88 Prospect St. Nearby at 70 Sachem St. is the Daniel Cady Eaton house, a handsome Victorian Gothic built circa 1865 for the Yale botanist. The 1840 red brick Georgian house of Theodore Dwight Woolsey, a Yale president, is to be admired at 250 Church St.
Marcel Breuer house, New Canaan. The clean, spare lines of this 1951 glass and stone abode exemplify the modern aesthetic of its owner and architect, Marcel Breuer, who studied at the Bauhaus School in Germany and designed houses with Walter Gropius. He and a group of like-minded architects taught at Harvard in the 1930s and settled in New Canaan. Recently bought by a contractor, its fate is undecided. Drive past it at 628 West Road.
