By Anne W. Semmes
Last Wednesday evening there was a crush of guests for the Greenwich Historical Society’s annual meeting held at the Riverside Yacht Club. The Society reported it had “finished FY22 ahead of budget and exceeded its fundraising goals” with its new programs. The evening proceeded with the presentation of the David Ogilvy Preservation Award to Charles “Chuck” Royce. But surely the following fireside chat to feature Honorary Trustee Peter Malkin questioning Chuck Royce about preservation helped double the number of pre-Covid annual meeting attendees to 140.
Peter Malkin’s own preservation footprint in Greenwich is writ large, with so many trees planted with the help of his co-founding the Greenwich Tree Conservancy, with his saving the historic Greenwich Post Office, now inhabited by RH Greenwich (Restoration Hardware), and nearby, renovating the Greenwich Commons (along with Ray and Barbara Dalio) to allow the pedestrian path to Town Hall. And then there’s that out-of-town preservation, the Empire State Building.
But Peter couldn’t make the fireside chat due to a fall and sore hip. So, he greeted us by video and introduced his daughter, Cynthia Malkin Blumenthal to take his place. Cynthia’s husband, U.S. Senator Richard “Dick” Blumenthal was not present but Chuck’s wife, Deborah joined him on stage.
Pretty soon, the power of partnerships (in marriage) was to be seen in this fireside chat, with Peter’s wife, Isabel, a long-standing Historical Society trustee and mother of Cynthia looking on in the front row.
Cynthia began with how her parents had “instilled to all of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, a love of history and a love of this town.” And we have the late former First Selectman Rebecca Breed and husband Bill Breed to thank for introducing them to Greenwich over a half century ago.
Cynthia then shared how her parents had met the Royce’s. “It was at an event at the Belle Haven Yacht Club in 2009, when a large-scale model of the soon- to-be-restored by the Royce’s Ocean House (hotel in Watch Hill, R.I.) was on display. “And that introduced both my parents to the concept of the Ocean House. And they decided to take up their children for an end of summer gathering. Ever since, we have gone every year. And most recently in August, we had not only the children and the grandchildren, but six great-grandchildren.”
And what had brought Chuck to Greenwich? He’d followed friends Patricia and John Chadwick, having grown up with John in Bethesda, Maryland, from the fourth grade.
The restoration of the Avon Theater in Stamford Cynthia then addressed. “We are all very much the beneficiary of your vision and your largess,” she said to Chuck.
“Well, for me,” said Chuck, “it was part of my courtship with Deborah. Deborah had been in the acting world… and this project came along. And I said, let’s take a look, have fun with it.” “We were dating,” said Deborah, “and Chuck proposed that we purchase and restore this cinema.”
“And Anne [to-be-Ogilvy] at that time was dating David [Ogilvy],” continued Chuck. “And so, we became friends, the four of us…And they got married. And we got married.”
At this moment Cynthia shared what her father wished her to point out, the power of partnerships in marriage in bringing visions into reality. The Royce’s she said, “have been board members and supportive of the Historical Society here for many years,” and like her dad’s “own marriage, the success of the Royce investments in history and preservation, utilization and historic places, and restoration is because of their strong partnership.” Cynthia added, “As a child of a strong partnership, I can attest to the fact that this is how great things happen.”
Years ago, this reporter had written of that “strong Malkin partnership,” of how Peter spoke of his wife Isabel as influencer. “It was Isabel driving her husband to the train station,” I wrote, “and pointing out the roadside litter that led to Peter’s creating Greenwich Green & Clean.” He later confirmed, “Pillow talk has an influence.”
Cynthia would lead the Royce’s through their various restorations, including the now five-star Ocean House hotel in Watch Hill, RI. “Everybody had bumper stickers in Watch Hill – Save the Ocean House, save the Ocean House,” shared Deborah. And then the two stepped up and saved and restored the Ocean House. “I think we take on some of our biggest risks in life,” shared Deborah, “but we have no idea what we’re doing because if we knew, we wouldn’t do it. It’s like trying to go back and be as bold as you were in your first view of taking something on. So, I think we had no idea what we were doing.” Chuck agreed, “This qualifies for that.” “We just went right in,” said Deborah.”
Cynthia would address finally the Royce’s restoring the United Theater in Westerly, RI.
“We opened literally a year ago,” said Chuck. “We’ve added three different screens. We have a music school in the basement. We work on a partnership with Rhode Island Philharmonic…And we are very pleased with how it’s going.”
Cynthia’s last question? “What are the most important lessons you’ve learned so far, and what do you believe are the most important issues in preservation?”
“If you compare and contrast taking on the Avon to taking on United,” said Deborah, “With the United, we really got a huge community involvement first. And I think for a project like that, that was the correct order to go in.”
“We would not have done it if we could not see a community purpose,” agreed Chuck.
If there’s a true community purpose, then absolutely.”
So, what might the Royce’s think of Cynthia’s dad’s vision he asked her to share, to restore, preserve, and repurpose the downtown Havemeyer Building (now occupied by the Board of Education)? “He was fortunate to have both Chuck and Ray Dalio inspired to agree with him, that it would be a wonderful cultural center.” said Cynthia. “And they were hoping to include a movie theater, music academy, ballet, and pottery studio.” That vision continues.
