‘Christmas House’ owner evicted

Hundreds of boxes of decorations head to storage as Merriman misses deadline

TORRINGTON — Ron Merriman did not make the deadline to leave his famous “Christmas House.”

Instead, police escorted him off the property Monday morning.

The deadline for the family to be ejected, or removed, from their home was Sunday by midnight. Merriman had known since November that he, his mother and sister, would have to move after a foreclosure auction was held on the house.

After opening the door about 8:15 a.m. to find three Torrington Police Department officers and a state marshal in the backyard, Merriman said he had been up until 4 a.m. packing and that he wasn’t ready to go.

He said much of his Christmas collection was still in the three-story house and that he was being unfairly treated. Merriman began to swear, raised his voice and called the law enforcement officers a variety of names.

He then threatened to sue the officers if anything was broken.

Officer Tony Peitrafesa tried to coax Merriman to come outside. He told him “we have sympathy,” for the situation, but that Merriman had to leave.

Merriman has not found a place to live, he said, and no longer has a working vehicle.

The family was given a two-week extension on Feb. 22, after Ron Merriman filed papers just days before the original deadline of Feb. 21.

His sister, Donna, and his 87-year-old mother, Alice, who shared the multifamily home, moved out by the deadline, according to a police officer at the house. They found housing in Torrington, but plan to move away, Donna Merriman said recently.

When Ron Merriman turned to go back inside his house Monday, after confronting the police on his back porch, two Torrington police officers followed him up the stairs to the upper apartment in the two-family structure.

After a delay of several minutes, a third officer entered the home.

State Marshal Arthur Quinn was singled out by Merriman for having served the ejection notice to Merriman. Quinn did not enter the house.

The Christmas House has been opened at time for tours of the home since 1982. The tours began one year after Ron Merriman said he and his family bought the house for $115,000.

Merriman’s father, Bob, who died about eight years ago, collected donations from enthusiasts who waited in a blocks-long line on weekends during the Christmas season.

Asked recently about the large crowds touring through her house, Alice Merriman said, “I did like it when (the display) first started. It was nice for people.”

She and Donna Merriman had not assisted with the set-up of the decorations nor the tours for a number of years, family members said.

A 1998 article in the New York Times called the Merriman House “the greatest show on earth for a child or for anyone with some child-like spirit.”

The article also noted that “At best, Mr. Merriman has a prickly relationship with the city (of Torrington). Last year he and city officials bickered about the status of the Christmas House,” after Merriman received a sale tax permit number from the Secretary of the State.

The city was concerned that Merriman was trying “to avoid paying taxes on items he purchased,” the article noted. Soon after, he withdrew the application.

Merriman, 63, dropped out of Lewis S. Mills High School in the tenth grade. He said he worked in the produce business for a while and picked up some electrician skills.

Brandon Belmonte, who owns Empire Wine & Liquor Superstore in Torrington, said in an email Monday that he thinks “it’s absolutely disgusting that people are making a mockery out of this man losing his home after he’s done so much for so many people.”

“There is not one person who grew up in Litchfield County,” Belmonte continued, “and was a child that did not go to the house. If I knew the house was only selling for $23,000 (at the foreclosure auction) I would’ve bought the house myself and let him stay there.”

Records show the Merriman family had not paid the $771 monthly mortgage since spring 2017. That left an unpaid balance of $11,350. The only bidder for the house was Webster Bank, the mortgage holder, which bid $22,000 for the property.

The fair market value of the house was $116,000, according to a court-ordered appraisal conducted in Nov. 2017. It noted that the house contains 2,802 square feet, with 10 rooms, including six bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The hundreds of boxes of Christmas decorations left in the Merriman house will be removed and stored in a city-owned facility, according to a police. Ron Merriman could retrieve his collection if he were to pay the storage fees and other expenses applied by the city.

Leslie Hutchison / Hearst Connecticut Media / Ron Merriman, in his doorway after being told by Torrington police that he must vacate his house by court order. He is pointing at State Marshal Arthur Quinn, who served the ejection notice on Feb. 21.

Ron Merriman walks across Main Street with a hand cart he used to move some of his thousands of Christmas collectibles before the deadline to vacate the house by Monday, which he didn't meet.

Leslie Hutchison / Hearst Connecticut Media Discarded decorations in the backyard of the “Christmas House,” where three family members were ejected by court order after the home was sold at foreclosure auction on Nov. 3.

Officer Tony Pietrafesa looks at court documents calling for the ejection of the Merriman family by midnight on Sunday. Ron Merriman had to be escorted from the house by three officers.