The Three Village Community Trust’s application for variances to move the Rubber Factory Houses will be heard by the Town of Brookhaven’s Board of Zoning Appeals on August 26, 2009. Approval will enable the Trust to remove the three structures currently located on Setauket Fire District property on Old Town Road. The District wants to expand the Main Street Fire Station onto this site, but has agreed to give the structures to the Trust if they are removed by December 10, 2009.

As The Village Times-Herald has reported, the Three Village Community Trust has since 2003 expressed its willingness to undertake the preservation of these historic structures. With the help of NYS Assemblyman Steve Englebright, it has worked with the Fire District to save the houses from being demolished.

“The Rubber Factor Workers Houses are the last remaining vestiges of a forgotten time when Setauket was the site of the largest industry and employer in our region, a time that brought in new American citizens who, as immigrants, had jobs waiting for them in the factory, a time that would define and transform our Setauket community,” said Assemblyman Steve Englebright. “Through preservation of these structures, we preserve a window into our past that will enable a more complete story to be told of our community as part of the American experience. I commend the leaders of the Three Village Community Trust for undertaking this important project and the Commissioners of the Setauket Fire District for collaborating with them.”

The Trust want to preserve the houses by moving them to the Bruce House property at 148 Main Street, then restore them for an adaptive reuse that is consistent with historic preservation goals and sensitive to the characteristics of the surrounding area. Assemblyman Englebright has secured $95,000 and the Trust is launching a major fundraising campaign for this preservation project.

“I am happy to see that the Three Village Community Trust is working to save the historic Rubber Factory Worker Housing by moving them closer to their historic location,” said Town Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld. “I was glad to be able to secure a Town Community Enhancement Grant to assist the Trust with this preservation project that will tell an important story of Setauket’s Industrial Age.”

The three houses were originally built in the 1890s; a 1909 map shows nine such structures on August Street. A 1917 map shows three on Old Town Road in their current configuration – all in a row and on foundations with full basements. Moving them to the Bruce House property brings them close to their original location on August Street. The Trust plans to maintain that nearly 100-year-old configuration, keeping them as one structure in a row, to preserve their historic appearance. The structures are one and one-half story structures and will have non-contiguous second floor for a total of 1,356 square feet. The exteriors will be restored once they are safely at the new site. The Trust is applying for several variances and approval of the site plan from the Town of Brookhaven’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

“We believe the houses can teach us much about the daily life and struggles of ordinary people, which are as much a part of our heritage as are the histories of the powerful and wealthy,” said Trust President Cynthia Barnes.

Please support this Historic Preservation project. If you wish to contribute or would like more information, please contact the Trust