Restored Home Eyed For B&B

When last we left the former crack den and brothel at 9 Austin St., owners Thea Buxbaum and Rebecca Gratz had restored the 1820s Greek Revival house to its former grandeur — but weren’t sure what to do with it.

They know now what they want to do — open a bed and breakfast. Tuesday night they’ll ask the Board of Zoning Appeals to let them do that in an area zoned RM‑1, medium density residential.

If the board says yes, the Austin Street Inn, with four guest rooms and a two-bedroom suite, would be scheduled to open in the next couple of months.

Click here to read a previous article about the house.

Buxbaum, 43, a driving force behind Westville center’s renewal, said that the house so far has cost about $525,000 to purchase and restore – with the restoration taking the lion’s share of $370,000.

The money came from ​“part of my kids’ college fund, part of my retirement and money borrowed from family,” she said.

“I would love to live in the house, but I can’t afford to,” she said. She now lives on the north side of West Rock Avenue, quarters that include the workshop of her husband, sculptor Gar Waterman. They have a son, Geffen, 5.

Buxbaum said she is sure the inn will be a success because of its location. People visiting children at Southern Connecticut State University and Yale could stay there rather than at hotels closer to downtown or in surrounding towns.

The idea of running an inn came naturally to her and her partner, Buxbaum said.

The Elm Shakespeare Co. had rented the house over the summer and expressed an interest in doing it again this year, which propelled her toward the bed and breakfast idea.

Then pieces started falling into place. The Columbia Mattress Co. offered her furniture if she would reupholster it. Calls to the firm seeking comment were not returned. ​“I grew up doing costumes for the theater,” she said. Then came paintings that were loaned by the Kehler-Leddell gallery in Westville Village. (Most are for sale.)

Click on the video for an art tour of the public areas of the house.

Buxbaum said she ran a summer inn in Maine a few years ago. ​“I had 10 – 15 people for each meal. This only is breakfast,” she said.

“I am really good at beds and toilets,” she added.

People who stay at the inn would pay ​“about as much as the downtown hotels charge,” she said. The Omni Hotel at Yale charges about $140 a night, according to its website.

Buxbaum said the inn also would offer special packages, such as spa treatments or a day with a personal trainer.

Buxbaum will bring to the zoning board ​“at least 10 letters of support, the support of three aldermen and lots of people in Westville,” she said.

Aldermanic President Carl Goldfield, whose 29th Ward includes Austin Street, initially expressed concern that the plans might allow people other than guests to frequent the property, but said he has been assured that won’t be the case.

He predicted the zoning board would approve the request. He hasn’t heard any opposition from people.

People who answered the phone at two of the city’s bed and breakfasts declined to comment on whether the market could support another local offering. Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the Connecticut Hotel and Motel Association, said the market could easily sustain another bed and breakfast.

Visiting professors prefer more intimate bed and breakfasts over hotels, she said. Same with European visitors.

Koslowski called Buxbaum’s plan to offer spa treatments and other activities ​“good niche marketing.”

New Haven has three bed and breakfast:, the Farnam on Prospect Street, the Touch of Ireland on Whitney Avenue and the Historic Mansion Inn on Chapel Street.