"The windows are brand new," Massarello said, touching one of the sashes. "Wow, these are nice. You can actually see through the windows. There used to be heavy-duty plastic to protect the windows."
And where else but a lighthouse a mile out from the entrance of Black Rock Harbor would you get these kinds of ocean views?
The Penfield Reef Lighthouse is one of three in Connecticut owned by the Coast Guard that are up for auction this summer. Since 2000, the federal government has been seeking new owners nationwide for the venerable beacons, which hold a prominent place in maritime history but are expensive to maintain and lack modern technology.
The lighthouse, built in 1874 to resemble a two-story, Second-Empire-style house with an octagonal light tower above it, was so badly damaged by Storm Sandy in 2012 that it had to undergo nearly a year of repairs before it was even safe enough to put up for auction.
Massarello, a project manager at the General Services Administration overseeing the auction, remembers well the devastation: windows blown in, the foghorn ripped from its base and plaster and chunks of wood littering almost every room.
"It looked like a tornado had gone through the inside," Massarello said, standing in one of the bedrooms during a recent tour. "You couldn't even see the floor."
"Part of the reason you couldn't see the floor was because the ceiling was on it," said Robert Zarnetske, GSA's regional administrator for New England, who accompanied Massarello.
Massarello said the lighthouse was in tough shape even before the battering by Sandy.
"There were major, major leaks before, even before the storm," Massarello said. "Major, major problems."
The $1.2 million in repairs — paid for with a grant tied to larger funds designated for relief after Storm Sandy — buttoned-up the leaks and covered other improvements. There are architecturally true, hurricane resistant windows replacing brittle wooden ones. A new roof was rendered with red shingles to mirror what the lighthouse had originally. And sturdy stainless steel replaced wood on entrance doors.
Read More: http://www.courant.com/real-estate/property-line/hc-penfield-lighthouse-tour-20160731-story.html
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