Gift is Largest in Academy’s History

OLD LYME — In what Michael Duffy, who serves as Lyme Academy Board of Trustees Chair, describes as, “an act of astonishing generosity,” a local couple is donating $1.8 million to the Academy to enable it to purchase the neighboring property at 80-1 Lyme Street, which is better known as the former Studio 80 + Sculpture Gardens owned by Gilbert ‘Gil’ Boro.

The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, will retain the right to live in the 3747 sq. ft. residence on the property for their respective lifetimes after which time, ownership of the house will be transferred to the Academy. 

Explaining the complexities of the transaction to LymeLine in a July 7 Zoom call, Duffy noted that the Academy’s sculpture program is expanding so rapidly that it is, “running into difficulties’ in terms of the space it needs. He gave as an example the stone-carving class held last summer, which ended up having to create what he described as a, “makeshift workplace in one of the [Academy’s] parking lots.”

Duffy credited Sculpture Director Chad Fisher with the increasing success of the Academy’s sculpture program. He noted there are now three applications for each single place across all the Academy’s program courses.

One of the features of Boro’s 4.3 acre property is a huge, stand-alone sculpture studio with a soaring ceiling, which enables outsize works of sculpture to be designed and fabricated in the space. Duffy noted there is still a mechanical hoist in the studio remaining from when Boro used the studio to create his own contemporary sculptures there. Some of Boro’s sculptures and works by others are still dotted around the sprawling grounds, which have direct water frontage on the Lieutenant River.

Pointing out there is already a pathway between Academy and Boro’s property—a tangible sign of the already existing connection between them—Duffy continued, “There’s a logic to it [combining the properties.]”

Duffy recalled at his very first meeting with Boro some five years ago, one of the main topics of their conversation was, “How can we cooperate?” Duffy said that unfortunately that early desire to work more closely together failed to blossom due to the impact of the COVID pandemic and Boro’s declining health.

Adding that this development seems “natural” now, he commented that Boro’s sons—who are managing the sale on their father’s behalf—are “really excited” about the prospect of acquisition since, “It keeps the spirit of Gil [Boro] alive in perpetuity.” 

Boro, who now lives in a residential home in Brooklyn, NY, close to one of his sons, is being kept fully informed of developments. Some of his sculptures and works by others are still dotted around the sprawling grounds, which have direct water frontage on the Lieutenant River.

The donors are planning some changes to the immediate exterior of the house including filling in the outdoor pool and installing a fountain in its place. They also intend to turn the current pool cabanas into artist’s studios. 

By coincidence the donors are both architects by profession, which is the same profession in which Boro began his own career. 

In another coincidence, the college was founded in 1976 by the sculptor Elisabeth Gordon Chandler and so Duffy remarked it seems fitting that this major expansion of the college’s facilities and grounds should be primarily to serve the Academy’s sculpture program.

Duffy said that the plans for the future of the property were presented for discussion at the Old Lyme Historic District Commission’s regular meeting on July 7 and will also be discussed at the next Old Lyme Zoning Commission meeting on July 14.

Asked when the transaction might be completed, Duffy responded enthusiastically, “We hope to close by the end of July.”

Describing the process by which the transaction has come about, Duffy noted that the first conversations were some 10 months ago but at that time, the price of the Studio 80 property was beyond the Academy’s reach. He said he felt “a sense of loss” when the idea had to be shelved. 

Now that these donors, who have been taking classes at the Academy for several years, have enabled the plan to come to fruition, a delighted Duffy commented, “This is a great vote of confidence in the future of Lyme Academy as we approach our 50th anniversary.”