The future of elegant soirees at Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is in jeopardy after a bat mitzvah went wild at the Norwalk estate Saturday night.
Guests had ripped down ceiling tiles and a light fixture in the 141-year-old, 62-room mansion, Brian Fischer, rental coordinator for the museum, said. He also told cops he saw boys and girls engaging in oral sex in the mansion’s bathrooms.
Now, the Norwalk Historical Commission board is deciding whether or not to allow people to rent the historic 62-mansion for events and programs, the chairman of the commission told the Stamford Advocate.
City board chairman David Park is very concerned that the mansion, built by banker-railroad tycoon LeGrand Lockwood, could be damaged by unruly parties.
"That building is very sensitive. Whatever damage is done, it is very expensive to repair. It is a National Historic Landmark, and if we have people running around inside and causing damage, we have to take a look at that issue," Park told the newspaper.
Sheryl Finnie Baker, the mother of the girl celebrating her bat mitzvah, denied that there was any sexual activity in the bathrooms and told the Advocate that the reports are "blown way out of proportion […] all I knew was that I was dancing, and then there were five police cars outside."
The palace has been featured in the 1975 and 2004 versions of The Stepford Wives films.
