Former Greenwich Church Could House Squash Facility For Private School

GREENWICH, CT — The former St. Agnes Church property at 247 Stanwich Road could be turned into a six-court squash facility and housing for leadership of Greenwich Country Day School, according to documents submitted to the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission.

The school is seeking a pre-application review to renovate the existing 16,253-square-foot former St. Agnes Church building to establish "a permanent on-campus home for its interscholastic squash program," said Michele A. Cronin, a certified planner and co-founder of 41° North Land Use Advisors LLC, in submitted documents.

A pre-application review allows commissioners to provide initial feedback before a formal application is submitted.

Cronin noted the squash program currently serves approximately 42 middle and upper school students across four teams, with practices and home matches conducted at leased facilities in nearby Port Chester, N.Y.

"The proposed use is particularly well suited to the existing structure," Cronin wrote. "The building's substantial interior volumes and multilevel configuration provide the height and space necessary to accommodate six squash courts, together with a central double-height lobby, locker rooms, restrooms, storage, and other athletic support facilities, including a new trainers' office with first aid station."

There would also be a new accessible entrance at the existing plaza level and new accessible restrooms, according to Cronin.

"The renovation has been designed to preserve the building's traditional overall form and recognizable historic character," Cronin said. "Overall, the proposal represents an opportunity to adaptively reuse and preserve a longstanding structure associated with the property's historic estate while meeting an identified school programmatic need and avoiding the reconstruction of an entirely new freestanding athletic building elsewhere on the campus."

Associated site improvements, such as enhanced pedestrian access, walkways, ramps, landscaped terraces, retaining walls, and outdoor seating are proposed, as well as a synthetic-turf putting green.

Additionally, GCDS is proposing to reconstruct the former caretaker's cottage near the intersection of Cat Rock Road and Stanwich Road.

The building was previously used by the school for administrative offices and referred to as the "Business Cottage," but it's currently vacant due to deteriorating conditions.

"The school proposes to reconstruct the cottage to provide a single-family residence for its Head of Upper School or another Upper School administrator," Cronin explained.

Preliminary architectural plans outline a reconstruction of the 1,785-square-foot building with a full-height second floor, three bathrooms, a home office and associated living spaces.

"The proposed design maintains a traditional residential architectural character, with pitched roof forms, clapboard siding, and other architectural details intended to complement the surrounding neighborhood and the property's historic estate setting," Cronin said.

The old church property at 247 Stanwich Road was formerly part of the Dommerich Estate, also known as Wildwood Farm. It was acquired by Alexander and Clara Dommerich around 1915.

According to Cronin, the estate included a 50-room mansion, landscaped grounds and several outbuildings, the largest of which was known as the "Carriage House."

After the Dommeriches died in the early 1960s, most of the estate was acquired by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, and the Carriage House was converted into a 150-seat chapel for St. Agnes Church.

In 2019, St. Agnes Church merged with The Parish of St. Catherine of Siena in Riverside, and St. Agnes later closed on Stanwich Road.

GCDS acquired the former church property in 2024 and combined it with another parcel at 235 Stanwich Road and its upper campus at 257 Stanwich Road to create a 42.7-acre tract.

The site features a principal academic building, a performing arts center that's currently under construction, two turf athletic fields, a six-lane running track, a wastewater treatment facility, and a hydroponic "grow trailer" used for commercial agriculture purposes.

The proposal is expected to go before the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission in the coming weeks.