By George Conger, Anglican Ink.
The former St Paul’s Episcopal Church building in Darien is to be demolished and its 14.4-acre campus prepared for sale for residential development, bringing a physical end to the home of the charismatic renewal once celebrated as the Miracle in Darien.
Darien’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted on Oct. 6 to approve the Episcopal Church in Connecticut’s plan to raze the church, two houses and a garage at 471 Mansfield Avenue and divide the land into four single-family residential lots. The lots will range from 2.48 to 4.84 acres, while approximately 54 per cent of the property will be preserved in its natural state under a conservation easement.
The property has not yet been sold, according to the latest public account. The diocese’s engineer, Craig Flaherty of Redniss & Mead, said the Episcopal Church in Connecticut intends to sell after completing the subdivision, but has not decided whether the buyer will be one developer or whether the four lots will be sold separately to individual purchasers. The distinction matters: diocesan bodies authorized a sale in 2024 and a sale or joint venture in 2025, but the newly approved subdivision is intended to make that future transaction possible.
The congregation stopped holding services on the site in 2022. Flaherty told the commission that the property was no longer needed to fulfil the church’s mission, while Rosanna Rosado, the diocese’s canon for finance and operations, described the plan as “responsible stewardship” that would release resources for active congregations and ministries.