Preservation News

March/April 2005 Volume XXVIII, No. 2 © Leland Burnham Leland ©

he , like the town hall and the skyscraper, is a News offers a series of reports about in Connecticut. Read symbol of America. To traditional farmers, barns are on for the reports on the Trust’s first-phase survey of historic Tthe soul of the farm. To the general public, barns barns and new studies from the State Historic Preservation Office, represent both our rural past and our agricultural present. They news on farmland preservation, and resources for understanding are monuments in the American landscape. and preserving barns in your own town. Nevertheless, barns are no longer the centers of industrial and We hope this exhibition and the projects that it has sparked will community life they once were. Older barns were not designed to help Connecticut residents to understand and appreciate our state’s store the enormous machinery and harvests of today’s large-scale agricultural heritage and will inspire us all to find ways of preserving farms. While renovated barns continue to play a vital role in agri- the physical aspects of that heritage. culture, many farmers now consider the traditional, time-honored structures obsolete. The exhibition Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon, In This Issue which is coming to Connecticut this spring and summer, explores the barn as both a cultural and agricultural icon. It examines the Around the State 4 building as an architectural structure and as a means of expressing beliefs about what our country was and could be. Barn Again! 6 In conjunction with the exhibition, Connecticut Preservation The Best Places in Connecticut 16

The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, non-profit organization. ISSN 1084-189X AT THE TRUST

s Spring approaches, the Trust owned by RWA. Founded by Eli Whitney, has been active around Con- Jr. as the New Haven Water Company, The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is A a nonprofit statewide membership organization es- necticut. Preparations are underway for RWA is currently building a spectacular tablished by a special act of the State Legislature in our Annual Meeting on April 5, which $45 million water treatment plant. The 1975. Working with local preservation groups and individuals as well as with statewide organizations, this year will celebrate the Trust’s 30th an- modest and dignified Boarding House and it encourages, advocates and facilitates historic pres- niversary. Richard Moe, president of the adjacent Whitney Barn (1816) will soon ervation throughout Connecticut. National Trust for Historic Preservation, be framed by a 21st century landmark of will be the keynote speaker. We will also public architecture and landscaping. As a Board of Trustees Officers present preservation awards and get a be- gateway to Hamden and New Haven on Theodore F. Ells, Chairman, Branford hind-the-scenes look at Hartford’s Colt Whitney Avenue, this confluence of sig- David H. Barkin, Vice Chairman, Woodbridge Susan U. Lawrence, Secretary, Darien Armory, where renovations are underway. nificant industrial architecture spanning Stanley G. Fullwood, Treasurer, Canton As it does every year, the legislative three centuries will awe visitors and neigh- John T. Kahler, Assistant Treasurer, Norwalk session offers opportunities and threats bors alike. Gubernatorial Appointees (see page 3). The Trust has been active and Paying the bills is a constant battle for Theodore F. Ells, Branford The Hon. Arthur Lathrop, Norwich visible at the Capitol, testifying on historic nonprofit organizations. To help meet the Jeffry Muthersbaugh, Bethel tax credit bills, restoration of funds to the Trust’s goal of greater financial stability Additional Members of the budget of the Commission on Culture and and growth, we have hired Kathy Frederick, Board of Trustees Tourism, an increase in funds for the Con- a development consultant from West Dawn Adiletta, Woodstock Martha Alexander, New Haven necticut Humanities Council’s Cultural Hartford. Kathy has started a development Mary Anderson, Noank Heritage Development Fund, and a new audit that will set the strategy for hiring Joan Carty, Bridgeport J. Barclay Collins, Sharon line item for Historic Preservation Techni- permanent development staff for the first Ron Cooper, New Haven cal Assistance Grants, administered by the time in the Trust’s history. Inger McCabe Elliott, Stonington Walter Fiederowicz, Litchfield Trust, at $250,000. Todd Levine, a summer intern from Glenn Geathers, Hartford In addition, the Trust has its own bond several years ago, is back and helping us Lisa Holmes, Hadlyme Adrienne Farrar Houel, Bridgeport bill, SB 452, for funds to continue the out again. Now a graduate of the Savannah Kenneth Johnson, Hartford restoration of our headquarters, the College of Art and Design, Todd is help- Clare Meade, Wethersfield Whitney Armory Boarding House (c.1827). ing us with brochures, our town greens Judith Miller, Bridgeport Guido Petra, Guilford The Trust purchased the Boarding House website, and the Restoration Services Di- FiFi Sheridan, Greenwich in 1989 from the Regional Water Author- rectory, as well as answering phones while Gary J. Singer, Ridgefield Myron Stachiw, Woodstock ity of South Central Connecticut (RWA), looking for a position in preservation. He Adele Strelchun, Waterbury, North Canaan saving it from an uncertain future. Listed will be the man behind the camera at our Jane Talamini, Fairfield The Hon. Patricia Widlitz, Guilford on the National Register as part of the Eli 30th anniversary celebration. Whitney Gun Factory Site, it sits on land — Helen Higgins Staff Helen Higgins, Executive Director Christopher Wigren, Deputy Director Cathyann Plumer, Membership Manager Brad Schide, Connecticut Circuit Rider Nina E. Harkrader, Connecticut Circuit Rider Elizabeth Hart Malloy, Content Manager, www.cttrust.org

Connecticut Preservation News Editor: Christopher Wigren Editor, Historic Properties Exchange: Anne Stillman Graphic Design: J.M. Communications Printing: Kramer Printing

Affiliate Organizations Merritt Parkway Conservancy Residents for Rural Roads

Connecticut Preservation News is published bimonthly by the Connecti- cut Trust for Historic Preservation, 940 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, Connecticut 06517-4002. Publication is made possible by the support of the members of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and by a matching grant-in-aid from the U.S. Department of the Inte- rior, , through the Connecticut Historical Com- mission under provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The contents and opinions stated herein do not necessarily re- flect the views and policies of the Department of the Interior. The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation assumes no responsibility for the advertisements.

This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or handicap in its federally assisted pro- grams. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any pro- gram, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to the Office for Equal Opportunity, U.S. De- partment of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240.

© 2005, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. All rights reserved. ISSN 1084-189X

2 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 impose a surcharge on real estate record- Legislative Report ings, the proceeds of which shall be used Easements Threatened for historic preservation, affordable hous- in Congress s CPN goes to press, the ing and farmland preservation. Sen. An- A General Assembly is in the drew Roraback (D-30th Dist.) has also Recommendations by a congressional com- early weeks of its 2005 session. The major introduced a bill that calls for increasing mittee could significantly cut or even elimi- issue is expected to be the state budget. the state sales tax by one-quarter of one nate tax incentives for preservation and con- The Office of Management and Budget percent in order to buy agricultural land servation easements and thereby reduce the has projected a large shortfall, and Gover- or open space land or development rights. number of properties protected by easements. nor Jodi Rell has presented a budget that Raised Bill No. 1089, An Act Concern- In response, the Connecticut Trust sent the calls for no net funding increases. As in ing Community Revitalization and the following letter to all members of the state’s past years, the Connecticut Trust is work- Adaptive Reuse of Certified Historic Struc- congressional delegation: ing as part of the larger Heritage Coalition tures calls for expanding the state’s tax to support the Commission on Culture credit for the rehabilitation of historic Dear Senator/Representative: and Tourism’s budget requests, particularly buildings, which currently covers only We am writing on behalf of the Con- its strategic goal of achieving parity in owner-occupied residential structures in necticut Trust for Historic Preservation, to funding for arts and history activities. The targeted urban areas. Connecticut Circuit urge you to do everything you can to pro- Coalition also supports full funding for Rider Brad Schide testified in favor of the tect full tax deductions for preservation and conservation easements. The Trust is a the CCT’s Historic Restoration Fund — bill on behalf of the Connecticut Trust statewide nonprofit preservation organiza- the state’s only source of money for bricks- and the National Trust for Historic Preser- tion chartered by the Connecticut General and-mortar restoration projects — which vation. He recommended modifying the Assembly in 1975; it has 2,500 members the governor’s budget cuts completely. bill to expand its coverage beyond indus- and affiliates. To move the history funding closer to trial buildings; to allow developers to use The Connecticut Trust has more than parity with the arts and to begin to address both state and federal tax credits on the 20 years’ experience in holding preserva- the enormous demand for Historic Preser- same project; and to make its goal the en- tion easements. We currently hold ease- vation Technical Assistance Grants couragement not only homeownership but ments on more than 20 historic buildings (HPTAG), the Trust is seeking a separate also of quality rental housing and eco- and sites across the state, ranging from $250,000 line item for HPTAGs, which nomic development. Colonial farmhouses to historic factory are currently funded through the Con- Senators Joseph Crisco (D-17th Dist.) housing to downtown office buildings. We necticut Humanities Council’s Heritage and Martin Looney (D-11th Dist.) and have found that preservation easements are Development Fund (HDF). With the Rep. Peter Villano (D-91st Dist.) have a valuable tool for preserving historic Heritage Coalition, the Trust is also seek- introduced a bill to grant up to $450,000 places while allowing them to remain in ing to restore the governor’s proposed 10 in bond funds for ongoing documenta- private ownership. percent to the HDF, as well as funds cut tion, repairs and restoration of the Con- The staff of the Joint Committee on in 2001, to bring the Council granting necticut Trust’s headquarters, the Whitney Taxation has recommended changes to the programs back to $1,400,000. Armory Boarding House (Proposed Bill tax code that would drastically reduce or Other bills of interest to preservation- No. 452). If the bill passes, the grant eliminate tax incentives for preservation ists include An Act Concerning Land Pro- would still have to be authorized by the easements that have been in place for more tection, Affordable Housing and Historic Bond Commission. than 25 years. These recommendations Preservation (Proposed Bill No. 410), seem to stem from recent cases in which introduced by Sen. Donald Williams To track these and other bills, see the General donors claimed inflated values for ease- (D-29th Dist). If passed, this bill would Assembly website, www.cga.ct.gov. ments, particularly in historic districts where local ordinances already restrict al- terations. While certainly undesirable, these cases represent only a small fraction of the preservation easements that have been donated over the past 25 years. The Joint Committee’s staff report has wildly over-reacted to a limited problem. The JCT report ignores the fact that many, if not most, preservation easements cover properties that are not located in his- toric districts. It also assumes that preser- vation easements duplicate local historic district regulations. This is not necessarily true. Historic districts generally regulate continued page 13 3 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 AROUND THE STATE

GUILFORD. The Guilford Preservation Preston Maynard Alliance (GPA) is seeking to encourage redevelopment of two long-neglected buildings that were once part of the town’s original railroad station complex — an octagonal brick water tower and a brick engine house. Both were built in the 1870s and are important survivors of the vital railroad industry in Connecticut. They are contributing structures in Guilford Town Center Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, as was the adjoining wooden station house, demolished in 2000. AMTRAK, the feder- ally operated railroad system, owns the structures, but has done nothing to secure or protect them. The buildings are rare reminders of the frequent maintenance and service that steam locomotives required. The locomo- tives had to be inspected, lubricated, and replenished with coal and water after each run. Most rail junctions and important Ornamental brickwork highlights the water tower at the Guilford railroad station. The Guilford Preservation Alliance is urging that the tower be restored and reused. stations had service facilities including a coal tower and water tank. The engine house at the Guilford rail- tower the Guilford train station is very acquire the railroad buildings from road station was built around 1875. The possibly the only survivor in AMTRAK for repair and new use. The long side of the 36 by 64 foot building is of an early form of water tower — a tank organization has committed $10,000 for divided into six bays, with two large enclosed within a solid walled building. pre-development work that would help arched openings on the east end where the The tank on the second level held water support the stabilization and ultimate res- locomotives were brought in to be ser- supplied from a nearby well by a steam toration of these structures and assembled viced. According to an archaeological re- pump located on the first floor. a development team of design, engineering connaissance study of the Guilford Rail- With the increase in commuter rail and real estate professionals with Noyes- road Station for Connecticut Department traffic, as well as the proximity to Guilford’s Vogt Architects at its head. of Transportation in 2001, very few brick waterfront, the GPA argues that these two engine houses remain in New England. historic structures can become important NEW CANAAN. , a pio- The water tower is an even rarer survi- economic and cultural resources. In May neer and promoter of vor. Water was a much more limiting fac- and June of 2004, the organization re- in the United States, died on January 25 at tor than fuel in determining the range of a tained the Yale Urban Design Workshop the age of 98. Johnson first became promi- steam locomotive. Steam engines con- to lead brainstorming sessions on redevel- nent in the architectural world in 1932 as sumed huge amounts of water and had to oping the area around the station. GPA one of the organizers of the Museum of stop repeatedly to refill their supply. Al- has also begun conversations with local Modern Art’s groundbreaking exhibition, though sadly decrepit now, the water officials about how it might help the town “The International Style,” which intro- duced Modern Movement architecture to the United States. In 1940 he returned to school to become an architect and prac- ticed up until his death. Johnson will be better known as a popularizer than as an innovator. Through- out his restless career he explored many styles, ranging from the spare and elegant modernism of Mies van der Rohe to the Postmodernism of the AT&T Building in New York (with its then-outrageous bro- ken pediment) and the Deconstructionist visitor center he built at his New Canaan estate in 1995.

4 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 AROUND THE STATE

One constant in his work was history. as well as the Kline Science Center and AIA Journal, “The new Yale Center for Unlike many modernists, Johnson knew Yale Epidemiology Lab in New Haven. British Art serves as a fitting summation his architectural history and drew on it of [Kahn’s] work and ideas….In fact, extensively, famously quipping, “One NEW HAVEN. The American Institute many of the most forward-looking aspects cannot not know history.” Evidence is of Architects (AIA) announced in Decem- of this building…are adaptations of seen at his New Canaan home, where ber that the Yale Center for British Art, Beaux-Arts principles firmly repudiated Johnson cited architectural influences as designed by Louis I. Kahn, has been se- by most ‘Modern’ architects. Kahn re- varied as ancient Mycenaean tombs and lected to receive the 2005 AIA Twenty- turned to the use of natural light, though the neoclassicism of Sir John Soane. This five Year Award, which honors significant employing it in a completely novel way. interest in history also led him to play an architectural landmarks completed 25-35 Instead of undifferentiated spaces, he cre- active role in the unsuccessful effort to years ago that have withstood the test of ated rooms complementing the scale and save Pennsylvania Station in New York, time. Begun in 1973, one year before his tone of Paul Mellon’s collection, never one of the great coalescing moments in death, and opened to the public in 1977, overwhelming it.” the preservation movement. the Center is among Kahn’s finest struc- The Center was erected to house the Johnson’s most famous building, one tures. Pellecchia & Meyers, formed in largest, most comprehensive collection of known around the world, is his own 1973 by two former members of Kahn’s British art outside the U.K. Located house in New Canaan, completed in office, completed the building after across the street from the Yale University 1949. A single room with all glass walls, it Kahn’s death in 1974. Art Gallery, Kahn’s first major commis- took the Modernist goals of open plan- When the building received an AIA sion, the Center was the first museum in ning and integrating interior and exterior Honor Award in 1978, the jury noted, the U.S. to incorporate retail shops on the to their logical conclusion. Over the “This building is a gentle urbane master- street. A monumental yet restrained civic years, Johnson added a number of other piece. It offers a quiet foil to its more de- structure, the Center’s taut exterior of buildings to the property, creating a min- monstrative neighbors and, from the inte- matte steel and reflective glass becomes iature summary of his career that he called rior, frames and augments them….The animated in the sunlight. Kahn said of it, “the diary of an eccentric architect.” The interior spaces are well planned for easy “On a rainy day it will be like a gray moth, site was named a National Historic Land- movement through the exhibits. They on a sunny day a butterfly.” mark in 1997 (see CPN, May/June 1997). frequently reveal surprising glimpses of Kahn believed that natural light is es- Johnson gave the estate to the National one another. A quiet feeling of delight sential to fully appreciate the works con- Trust for Historic Preservation in 1986; it grows within you with the discovery of tained within. Hence, the courtyards are will eventually be opened to the public. each new space, and the manner in which awash in natural light that is then filtered Other Connecticut buildings by Philip the whole is subtly revealed has an ever- into adjoining galleries through unglazed Johnson include the Hodgson, Boissonas, surprising complexity.” interior windows, while skylights provide and Wiley houses in New Canaan (the Andrea Oppenheimer Dean wrote in illumination for the top-floor galleries. first of these designed with ), a story on the building that ran in the continued page 12

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igren

Richard Caspole Richard

Above: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. Right: Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan reveals and reflects the landscape.

5 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 BARN AGAIN!

workers began new communities in the New Studies Broaden the Picture central valley and added their unique cul- ture to the existing African-American of Connecticut Agriculture community of Hartford. Current black populations in a number of Connecticut’s arming in Connecticut is usually harvesting tobacco in Connecticut. He cities and towns had their beginnings in F identified with descendants of was one of many African American men the fields of Connecticut’s Tobacco Valley. the state’s earliest settlers. Two new studies recruited by summer work programs ad- The Connecticut Commission on Culture from the state’s Museum and Historic ministered through southern colleges and and Tourism’s Museum and Historic Pres- Preservation Division document agricul- high schools, which were designed to ease ervation Division is collaborating with the tural activity by other ethnic groups. the dearth of labor brought about by Simsbury Historical Society to research The tobacco fields of Connecti- these groups of

James Sexton cut have long produced an impor- workers and their tant cash crop, and the labor-inten- influences on sive production of shade tobacco Connecticut soci- provided employment for thou- ety. The research sands of Connecticut residents, in- and resulting ma- cluding African Americans. When terials will provide the movement of African Americans the information from rural southern towns to north- necessary to pro- ern cities, known as the Great Mi- duce an exhibi- gration, began in the 1910s, Con- This chicken coop in Guilford resembles many built for Jewish poultry tion or brochure necticut tobacco companies were farmers in the 20th century. to travel with the some of the first in the country to Barn Again! ex- utilize this newly available source of labor, World War II. King’s recently published hibit when it tours Connecticut. and the recruitment of African Americans letters reveal the impact his time in Con- The Division is collaborating with the by Connecticut tobacco growers began in necticut had on his life. For the first time, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hart- earnest around 1914. The state’s black he experienced a society in which he could ford on a project that will focus exclusively population doubled in the period between worship, eat, and travel in the company of on poultry farming, a very successful en- 1915 and 1930 and in the period during whites as an equal. King later wrote that deavor that by Jewish farmers. Starting and after World War II it would increase beginning in that summer, “I felt an ines- with the Baron de Hirsch Fund era (1890- further, due in large part to the employ- capable urge to serve society…a sense of 1940) and continuing to the present, Jew- ment practices of the tobacco industry. responsibility which I could not escape.” ish egg farmers have played an important During the summers of 1944 and At the same time, tobacco companies role in the success of this type of farming. 1947, Martin Luther King, Jr., the future began contracting West Indian workers for The practice and buildings of poultry civil rights leader and activist, spent time the same purpose. West Indian tobacco farming begin at the henhouse/chicken yard level and proceed to large-scale “fac- tory” type poultry buildings. An impor- tant goal of the project is to document the social conditions that produced this era of farming and made it possible for Jewish farmers to flourish in this specialized niche. The project historian is Dr. Kenneth Libo, co-author of World of Our Fathers, Courtesy Mansfield Historical Society winner of a National Book Award. He is also author of We Lived There, Too, a history of Jews in the American West. Dr. Libo’s family includes Jewish farmers in the Nor- wich/Lisbon area. The project will also include three town historical societies and will seek to interview Jewish poultry farm- ers. The materials produced will be used in book, exhibit, and website formats.

— Cora Murray and Mary Donohue, CT Many Jewish farmers specialized in raising poultry in the early 20th century. This is the Schwaitzberg Historic Preservation and Museum Division chicken yard in Mansfield.

6 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 BARN AGAIN! Beauty in the Tobacco Valley James F. O’Gorman, Connecticut Valley Vernacular: The Vanishing Landscape and Architecture of the New England Tobacco Fields (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 108 pages.

tretching from Middletown, the sheds are built to open S Connecticut, to southern up to the breezes, a form and , the Connecticut that has remained almost valley boasts some of the most fertile farm- entirely unchanged since it land in the United States. In the 19th cen- appeared in the mid-19th tury the region developed as center of to- century. For O’Gorman, bacco growing. The result was a unique these sheds are not just landscape distinguished by long, narrow useful, they are beautiful tobacco barns and tented fields to provide because they so com- shade and high humidity needed to grow pletely fulfill their func- high-quality tobacco for cigar wrappers. tion. He quotes Henry James F. O’Gorman, professor of architec- Fowle Durant, the tural history at Wellesley College, de- founder of Wellesley scribes the evolution of this landscape and College, who said in the life that took place in it. Drawing on 1877, “All beauty is agricultural diaries, government reports, the flower of use.” antismoking literature dating back at least Even more fragile to the 1840s, and historic photographs, he than the sheds is the landscape of the recreates the rhythm of the tobacco fields, shaded fields, created by stringing cloth on less field of tree stumps in a countryside of the economics and sociology of tobacco wires held up by poles. From the air, the snow…[or] a white ocean, ending at the farms, the arduous labor, and the uncer- valley was transformed into fields of white, horizon against the harsh brilliant blue of tain returns. lyrically described in Mildred Savage’s an unbroken skyline. And in the whole Tobacco sheds (as the barns are prop- novel, Parrish, published in 1958 and white expanse there was no hint of mo- erly known) are the valley’s most distinc- made into a movie in 1961, as “acres and tion, not of tree nor of man.” Underneath tive physical element. In the South, to- acres of land, covered with white cloth, the tents, “it was at least ten degrees hotter bacco is cured by smoke, so barns there stretched as far as the eye could see. A con- [than outside]. The air was damp and must be airtight. Connecticut Valley to- tinuous tent, propped up with posts, tropical and artificial to the senses, like bacco, on the other hand, is air cured, so looked in the glaring sunlight like an end- hothouse air, and heavy with the sharp, sweet smell of tobacco.” Distinctive but vulnerable, the sheds Other Books about Barns… and their landscape are rapidly dwindling as suburban sprawl and the antismoking Auer, Michael J. The Preservation of Historic Barns. National Park Service Preservation movement erode the amount of land de- Brief 20. Also available online at www.cr.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief20.htm. voted to tobacco growing. There are still Caranvan, Jill. American Barns: A Pictorial History. Courage Books, 1995. working sheds — and even a few are still being built — but their future is uncer- Fitchen, John. The New World Dutch Barn: The Evolution, Forms, and Structure of a tain. At the same time, O’Gorman found Disappearing Icon. Syracuse University Press, 2001. no tobacco sheds permanently preserved Guinan, Betty, and Ted Holly. The Barns of East Granby: Our Agricultural Heritage. East intact. Even at sites dedicated to tobacco- Granby Historical Society, 1989. growing, the sheds have been cleaned up, made weathertight, given concrete floors Hubka, Thomas C. Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England. University Press of New England, 1984. — as O’Gorman says, they have lost “the rust of time.” Surely some historical soci- Noble, Allen G. The Old Barn Book. Rutgers University Press, 1996. ety could make it their mission to preserve Sloane, Eric. An Age of Barns. Voyageur Press, reprint 2001. an unimproved tobacco shed, preferably with a field of shaded tobacco growing Visser, Thomas D. Field Guide to New England Barns and Farm Buildings. University Press around it in the summer, so that Con- of New England, 1997. necticut citizens can experience for them- Vlach, John Michael, ed. Barns . W. W. Norton & Company, 2003. selves the beauty that O’Gorman finds in the tobacco landscape.

7 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 BARN AGAIN!

James Sexton

Connecticut’s oldest barns resemble structures the settlers knew in England. This barn was built for the Stiles family, who have farmed the same land in Southbury since the 1670s. Connecticut’s Barns: Relics of a Working Landscape

rom the first, barns have been an through the first quarter of the 19th mid-19th century also brought a new F integral part of the Connecticut century. product to Connecticut, tobacco, which landscape. Their story begins with the As with so many things, the 19th cen- led to the introduction of new, specialized colony’s first settlers, who came here in tury was an era of change for barns, when farm buildings, notably the ventilated to- part because of its rich farmland. In order traditional approaches to constructing and bacco barn or shed. to take advantage of this re- using these buildings changed The way in which barns were con- source, and to shelter crops and by James Sexton dramatically. Beginning in the structed also began to change, with a move animals from the weather, some 1820s Connecticut farmers toward more standardized practices in tim- of the earliest buildings they created must began to build barns with the main door ber framing. This standardized approach have been barns. Sadly, no barns from this on the gable end rather than under the ultimately gave way to the balloon framed era remain except in the documentary and eaves. This change had two practical re- buildings and the mail order barns of the archeological records. sults. Rather than shedding rain onto the early 20th century. The earliest type of farm building to dooryard, this arrangement guided pre- Driving many of these mid-19th cen- survive in Connecticut today is what mod- cipitation away from the barn’s doors. It tury innovations was the growth of publi- ern scholars call an “English Barn.” Based also meant that the barn could be enlarged cations aimed at making farmers more on grain warehouses of the colonists’ much more easily, simply by adding an- productive. While Connecticut had fos- homeland, it is a simple building with a other bay to the length of the building. tered earlier agricultural authors and re- rectangular plan, a pitched roof, and a The next decades saw the introduction formers like 18th century Killingworth door or doors located on one or both of its of a basement under the barn to allow for resident Jared Eliot, the wave of agricul- long sides. In the New World this tradi- easy collection and storage of a winter’s tural periodicals that began in the 1820s tional building type was reorganized, ac- worth of manure from the animals shel- had a much greater impact on the built cording to architectural historian John tered within the building. With the intro- environment. Another factor was competi- Michael Vlach, both for efficiency in use duction of windows for light and ventila- tion from the western regions of the grow- and economy in construction, into a mul- tion, it became possible to shelter more ing country. tipurpose building that housed animals, animals in the basement. Additionally, Toward the end of the century, a new grains and equipment. English barns these years saw the first use of ventilators type of farmstead appeared in Connecti- dominated barn building in Connecticut or cupolas, now a hallmark of barns. The cut: the gentleman’s farm, with buildings 8 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 BARN AGAIN! intended as much for display as for use. But this rebirth did not last long. Al- While the story seems dismal there are Fancy barns had long been a hallmark of though many family farms continued to a few bright spots. A small number of economic success, but these barns were supply local population centers with eggs, Connecticut farms continue to survive, something new. They were frequently de- milk and some vegetables, the middle of using old barns or even building new ones. signed by famous architects and were part the twentieth century heralded the decline Other barns are being preserved through of expansive complexes that combined the of Connecticut’s farms. Changes in the adaptive use. And with renewed awareness luxury of a weekend retreat with the grit way Americans ate, increasing property for the important place of barns in of a working farm. Of course, the grit was values, and the growth of giant agri- Connecticut’s past, further progress may kept out of sight, and the farms were as businesses all made it harder for Connecti- be made in preserving this physical re- likely to produce prize animals as saleable cut farmers to make a living. As farms minder of our agricultural heritage. crops. went out of business, many of their barns By the end of the 19th century were no longer needed, and so were no Connecticut’s farm population was de- longer maintained. The result was demoli- This essay was adapted from a study of his- creasing. The land had been worked hard tion by neglect. Another threat appeared torical themes, building types and regional for more than two centuries, and modern in the form of suburban development. architectural themes commissioned by the transportation made it harder and harder Since farming could no longer generate Trust as the first step toward a comprehensive to compete with the farms of the Midwest. enough income, families sought a new way survey of historically significant barns in Nonetheless, the state enjoyed a slight ag- of getting money out of the land, which Connecticut. The study was funded by the ricultural renaissance in the first half of often was their largest asset. The result was Connecticut Humanities Council and writ- the 20th century as immigrants from east- the process, which continues today, of ten by James Sexton, an architectural histo- ern Europe resettled the Yankees’ aban- turning farmland into developments that rian and preservation consultant from New doned farms and strove to make them into have no place for a barn. Rochelle. workable propositions.

C. W Not only did they put in the long hours of their igren predecessors, but they undertook new ap- proaches to finding eco- nomic success as well. They made chicken rais- ing into a big business. They banded together in cooperative organizations to take advantage of in- creased buying and bar- gaining powers. And they began some of the state’s first agri-tourism, taking in summer boarders from Like many gentleman farmers, the big cities. Randolph Chandler erected a large and elaborate barn in 1888 on his estate, now in the Thompson Hill National Adaptive use offers Register district. hope for some barns such as these in Kent, converted to shops in 2001.

Rock Hill Associates

9 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 BARN AGAIN!

C. W

With each barn lost, igren another piece of Connecticut’s rich agricultural history disappears.

Kronenberger & Sons Restoration, Inc., founded in Years of successful projects and satisfied clients are 1946, is a three-generation firm specializing in the a testament to that goal. restoration, preservation and adaptive re-use of Our clients have included museums, municipalities, period structures. architects, historical societies and homeowners. We are craftspeople, with the knowledge, skills As varied as our clients, so are their projects. They and experience to return usability to older structures have included barns, carriage houses, covered while helping them meet the bridges, churches, town halls requirements of the 21st Century. and a vast array of period homes It has been our goal to balance and out buildings. passionate interest in historic For history in the remaking preservation with level-headed call us, toll-free in Connecticut professionalism. 1-800-255-0089.

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Upcoming Meetings of the Connecticut Historical Commission:

April 6, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. May 4, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. ◆ All meetings take place at the South Congregational Church 277 Main Street, Hartford For more information, call (860) 566-3005.

10 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 BARN AGAIN!

Barn Again: Celebrating an American Icon

Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon was developed by the National Building Museum in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Adapted for travel by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service Preserving Farmland (SITES), it comes to Connecticut thanks to SITES in partnership with the n Preston, one family’s proposal for its farm threatens the future of the state’s Federation of State Humanities Councils. farmland preservation program, according to state officials and activists. The Connecticut Humanities Council is IThe program, administered by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture, sponsor of the Connecticut tour. allows the state to buy development rights to farmland as a way of reducing pressure for development, as well as property and inheritance taxes on farmland. The farms CONNECTICUT’S 2005 TOUR remain in private ownership and continue to pay local property taxes, but a perma- State Coordinator: Laurie Rayner nent restriction on nonagricultural uses is placed on the properties. According to Connecticut Humanities Council the Department of Agriculture website, the program has preserved 28,393 acres on (860) 685-3423 191 farms. [email protected] While the main goal of the program is to remove some of the economic barriers April 9-May 21 to farming, a secondary benefit is the preservation of the state’s historic agricultural Lebanon Historical Society landscape. Connecticut residents have farmed the state’s land for thousands of years, (860) 642-6579 and much of the scenery that we regard as natural has in fact been shaped by agri- [email protected] cultural activity. Shawn Powers and his parents, Virginia Landis and Frederick Peacos, Jr., own June 11-August 28 Kent Historical Society the property in Preston known as the Ayer farm. The previous owner, Joseph (860) 927-4587 Koniecko (who was Peacos’ stepfather), sold the development rights to the 221-acre [email protected] farm to the state for $232,603 in 1986. The restriction on the Ayer farm forbids any activity detrimental to its agricultural potential. “No activity shall be carried on September 8-November 6 which is detrimental to the actual or potential agricultural use of the Premises, or Windsor Historical Society 96 Palisado Avenue detrimental to soil conservation, or to good agricultural practices.” (860) 688-3813 The family wants to build a golf course on part of their land. They argue that as [email protected] open space, the golf course is not incompatible with agriculture, and that income from the course will support farming on the rest of the property. The golf course is FOR MORE INFORMATION part of a larger plan to convert the farm into a tourist destination that would also Smithsonian Institution: include organic farming and pick-your-own produce on most of the land. The fam- www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/ ily points to Lyman Orchards in Middlefield as a model. (There is a golf course at exhibit_main.asp?id=124 Lyman Orchards, but it was built before the farmland preservation program was www.museumonmainstreet.org established.) The town of Preston has granted all approvals needed for construction. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed suit in November to National Trust for Historic Preservation (part of Successful Farming): stop construction of the golf course, claiming that the cuts and fills required for the www.barnagain.org golf course would jeopardize the agricultural quality of the soil. On November 5, the court granted an injunction stopping construction until the suit could be tried. Connecticut Humanities Council: Preservationists point out that allowing a golf course on the Ayer farm could www.ctheritage.org/BarnAgain/ undo the farmland preservation program. If uses like golf courses that generate BarnAgainConnecticut.htm greater incomes are allowed, then there will be pressure for similar development on Barn Again! has been made possible other parcels and the whole purpose of the restrictions, to keep farmland affordable through the generous support of the for farming, will be lost. “The farmland preservation program is essential because it National Endowment for the creates a land bank of affordable farmland for the future. The land on which the Humanities, the John S. and James L. state holds the development rights arguably may be the only land that farmers are Knight Foundation, The Hearst able to access, to lease or to purchase in the future, given the current real estate Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution Special Exhibition Fund, and the value of land,” said Jiff Martin of the Working Lands Alliance, a farmland preserva- Smithsonian Institution Educational tion program. Outreach Fund. Barn Again! is a registered trademark owned by the For more information on farmland preservation, see www.ct.gov/doag and Meredith Corporation and the National www.workinglandsalliance.org. Trust for Historic Preservation.

11 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 Phillip Esser Around the State, cont’d from page 5

Their angled louvers and baffles block blu- ish north light and screen ultraviolet rays, admitting larger quantities of light when the sun is low than when it is higher in the sky. Kahn emigrated to the U.S. from Estonia at the age of four. After receiving his bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania, he taught at Yale from 1947 to 1957 and later be- came dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. In the mid-1950s, Kahn rose to prominence in Abel Bradley house, Westport. the field, receiving significant awards and commissions. Four other Kahn buildings WESTPORT. Local preservationists are leaders and organizations has formed the have received the Twenty-five Year Award, rallying to prevent the demolition of the Coalition for Preservation of the Bradley including the Yale University Art Gallery Abel Bradley house on Sturges Highway. House. They are sponsoring a National across the street from the British Art Center. Two developers bought the 2.5-acre prop- Register nomination and hope to find a erty in October, 2004, with plans to build buyer for the property who will commit to BRISTOL. Two local historic districts a new house on it. They applied for demo- preserving the house. The group has sup- proposed for the Federal Hill neighbor- lition permit in early December. port from the Connecticut Trust, the hood were narrowly defeated in separate According to the Fairfield County Fairfield County Preservation Trust and votes in December, but organizers remain Preservation Trust, the house was built the Westport Historical Society, and is optimistic that the third time is the charm. about 1800 by Abel Bradley, a boot maker now seeking donations to purchase the Most of the 56 buildings in High Street and veteran of both the American Revolu- property if all other efforts fail. and the 141 buildings in Federal Hill tion and the War of 1812. The Westport The Connecticut Trust is serving as a Green were built between 1870 and 1930, Historic District Commission describes pass-through for the unincorporated group, and much of the districts are within a Na- the house as “one of the most authentic so that donations can be tax-deductible. In tional Register Historic District. Members and complete early houses in Westport. addition, Connecticut Circuit Rider Brad of the Local Historic District Study Com- Additionally, it is the only known gambrel Schide is working with the group. mittee felt that a recent upturn in historic with the graceful bellcast roof shape.” For more information, see the Fairfield awareness and neighborhood pride indi- Working under a 90-day delay of County Preservation Trust website: cated strong support for a local historic demolition that began in December, a www.fairfieldcountypreservation.org/ district, and they were right, but it was not group of neighbors, friends, community bradley/index.htm. strong enough. The votes were close: 58 percent of owners in the proposed High Street district Best Places, cont’d from page 16 repetitive, hot, noisy and sometimes dan- voted in favor, as did 62 percent in Federal gerous. Workers had to be on time and Hill Green. Connecticut state law requires Housing for North Grosvenordale’s work long hours; illness or absence meant the affirmative vote of 67 percent of the workers stands in stark contrast to the not getting paid or even losing one’s job. owners to establish a local historic district. elegant and imposing mill. Repetitive The housing reflects their status — nearly The large number of absentee landlords and rows of plain, wooden tenements, each anonymous, interchangeable. Most Provi- investor-owned multifamily houses may housing up to as many as twelve families, dence investors in Windham County mills, have played a role in the districts’ defeat. sit overlooked by the mill, literally in its Grosvenor included, were absentee owners The study committee has yet to sched- shadow. The decorative embellishments who paid a supervisor to live nearby and ule a date for voting on Overlook, the of the mill are absent, the materials insub- manage the day-to-day affairs of the busi- third and final proposed district. This stantial in contrast to its solid brick, stone ness. By the 1930s, the North Grosvenor- 101-building district has a higher percent- and iron. Some are located on low-lying dale supervisor had moved to Thompson age of owner-occupied homes, including land wedged between the river and the Hill, next door to the Gothic Revival several that are individually listed on the railway, hardly a salubrious location. mansion built by the uncle of the Mason National Register of Historic Places. Mem- While houses for the foremen are built heiress. Soon after, the company sold out, bers of the Committee intend to monitor of brick, they too are small, utilitarian leaving the workers of the single-industry the return of ballots, to make sure that and plain, and perch awkwardly along a town unemployed — but still under the known supporters don’t forget to vote. hillside abutting the mill. watchful eye of the now silent mills. — Craig Minor, Bristol Textile work was regimented and — Nina E. Harkrader

12 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 Easements Threatened in Congress, cont’d from page 3 stead. The land trust holds 90 acres of public open space, while the farm build- only the portions of a building that are Finally, the report argues incorrectly ings, protected by a preservation easement, visible from a public way. Preservation that preservation easements do little to were returned to private ownership and easements, on the other hand, can regulate accomplish preservation goals. It says, the tax rolls. changes to other portions of buildings, “…tax incentives should be targeted to •Former SNET Headquarters, New including interiors. In addition to limiting those persons who are most likely to Haven. A private developer received fed- alterations, they can require a high level of modify their behavior in substantial part eral rehabilitation tax credits for converting maintenance, putting an additional bur- because of the provision of the tax benefit” this downtown landmark to market-rate den on the property owner. If an easement (page 284). But the point of an easement apartments. The Connecticut Trust’s ease- on an historic district property makes a is to protect the property from future own- ment protects the government’s investment measurable difference in the property’s ers, who may not share that motivation. in this preservation project. Without the value, a qualified appraisal should reveal In short, the JCT recommendations potential for tax deductions, the future will that; if it makes no difference in property constitute an overreaction to a problem hold many fewer success stories like these. value, the appraisal should reveal that, too. whose extent has been exaggerated. If On behalf of the Trust’s members, we In addition, the JCT report maintains adopted, they could seriously damage the look forward to hearing from you about that the variety of local regulations make it effectiveness of a tool that has made pos- your commitment to maintaining full tax too difficult for the IRS to be sure that sible the preservation of many important deductibility for preservation and conser- easement valuations are valid. But the IRS historic sites, at a very modest public ex- vation easements, with reasonable reforms has to wade through those same regula- pense. Here are two recent Connecticut as needed. If you or your staff have any tions, as well as a host of other local fac- examples that show how preservation ease- questions about easements, we will be tors, in valuing properties for inheritance ments can benefit the greater community: happy to answer them. taxes, outright donations, or other tax pur- • Benjamin Osborne farm, Southbury. poses. Why is it an unreasonable burden The Connecticut Trust worked with the Very truly yours, for the agency to check up on property Trust for Public Land and the Southbury Helen Higgins, Executive Director valuations in one case and not in another? Land Trust to preserve an historic farm- Christopher Wigren, Deputy Director

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13 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 Mr. and Mrs. Herbert T. Clark III The Connecticut Trust’s Preservation Circle Members for 2004 Rebecca T. Cobey James E. Cohen The following people, organizations, and companies gave $100 or more to the Connecticut Trust during 2004: Mr. and Mrs. John H. Cole Colonial Restorations Chairman’s Circle, $5,000 or above Stephen Ramsey and Anne Jones D. R. A. Wierdsma The Community Bank of Bridgeport Mr. and Mrs. James Alexander Redding Preservation Society Winokur Family Foundation William G. Conway Middlesex Mutual Assurance Company The 1892 Club Inc. Yamin & Yamin Prof. Abbott L. Cummings Union Carbide/Dow Chemical Mrs. John M. Timken Mr. and Mrs. Wick York Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Curtis Commission on Culture and Tourism The Hon. Patricia Widlitz Christopher Wuerth Restoration Maggie Daly Connecticut Humanities Council Contractor Mr. and Mrs. Raymond D’Angelo National Trust for Historic Preservation Preservation Sponsors, $250 or Karen Youel Mr. and Mrs. Joel N. Davis Community Foundation for Greater above Mr. and Mrs. Leslie T. Young MaryLou Davis, Inc. New Haven ABM Business Systems Albert Zellers James K. Day and Theresa M. Kidd American Express Gift Matching Helen E. Dayton Chairman’s Circle, $1,000 or above Program Heritage Partners, $100 or above Barbara S. Delaney Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Anderson, Jr. Becker and Becker Associates, Inc. George W. Adams, III Mr. and Mrs. Philip C. Dennehy Dr. Lynne Brickley Ralph C. Bloom Ms. Mary Jean Agostini Diversified Technologies Inc. Philip and Betsey C. Caldwell Foundation Fielding L. Bowman (deceased) Nancy Alexander and Mr. Phillip G. Mr. and Mrs. Henry E. Dunn, III J. Barclay Collins II Jay Warren Bright, AIA, Architect Bernstein Bradford R. Durrell Inger M. Elliott Nadine Cancell and Craig Curry R.J. Aley, Building Contractor Mrs. Harold Edwards Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Theodore F. Ells Gail Carmody Mr. and Mrs. Peter Anderson Alberta Eiseman Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Fiederowicz Mr. and Mrs. David G. Carter Deborah M. Angotti Elmore Design Collaborative, Inc. Mr. and Ms. David Findlay Mr. and Mrs. Fred Clarke Antique Restoration LLC Enviro Science Consultants, Inc. Stanley G. Fullwood Michael D. Coe Frank Appicelli Eric Jackson Chimney General Cologne Re Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Dannies Jr. The Architects Mr. and Ms. Dennis Evans Heritage Recruiting Group, LLC Pearl Dent Architectural Preservation, LLC Faesy-Smith Architects Mr. and Ms. Stephen Holmes Deutsche Bank Matching Gift Program Babbidge Facilities Construction Mary A. Falvey Kenneth Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Dunham Company, Inc Ann H. Fenn Mr. and Mrs. John T. Kahler Mr. and Mrs. Michael Elgee Benjamin M. Baker Mr. and Mrs. Eric Ferguson Kronenberger and Sons Restoration, Inc. Margaret K. Feczko Barkin Associates Architects P.C. RB Ficks, LLC Mr. and Mrs. Lee G. Kuckro Sally Ferguson Barrett, Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Erik Fiebert Susan and Peter Lawrence Mr. and Mrs. Maxfield S. Gibbons Mr. and Mrs. David R. Bechtel Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Finkelstein Local Initiatives Support Corporation Melanie Ginter and John Lapides Martha M. Becker First Church of Christ Congregational, Ruth Lord Patricia Harper Mr. and Mrs. Timothy R. Beeble Redding Center Mr. and Mrs. Peter L. Malkin Robert J. Harrity Jr. S.A. Bendheim Company, Ltd. The First Church of Christ In Hartford Mr. and Mrs. David C. Oxman Mr. and Mrs. John E. Herzog Richard Bergmann Architects Fitzgerald & Halliday, Inc. Cesar Pelli and Associates Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Higgins Bianco Giolitto Weston Architects Susan G. Foote Petra Construction Corporation Mr. and Mrs. Jon T. Hirschoff Frederick Biebesheimer, FAIA Mr. and Mrs. Laurence M. Ford Jane Fearer Safer Mr. and Mrs. James A. Houston Bi-Glass Systems J. P. Franzen Associates Ann Sheffer and Bill Scheffler Gilbert Kenna Mr. and Mrs. Kurt R. Bissell Dr. Bruce Fraser FiFi M. Sheridan Sheldon Kutnick Board & Beam Kristina Gade-Diels Mr. and Mrs. Gary J. R. Singer Henry Lord Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm E. Bramley Richard Gere Jane K. Talamini Mr. and Mrs. James Mayo Elizabeth Mills Brown Gibble Norden Champion Brown Union Savings Bank Anita L. Mielert Thomas V. G. Brown Consulting Engineers Judith W. Miller Buckley Appraisal Services, Inc. Alfred H. Gildersleeve Preservation Patrons, $500 or above Monument Conservation Collaborative Building Conservation Associates, Inc. Nancy S. Gilliland Paul B. Bailey Architect Mrs. Robert B. O’Reilly Mr. and Mrs. Michael S. Burd Mr. and Ms. Barry Ginsburg Suzanne Braley Mr. and Mrs. James Pfeffer Jonathan P. Butler Mr. and Mrs. Ron Girioni Robert E. Buckholz, Jr., and Lizanne Pfizer Foundation Matching Gifts Program The C. G. Bostwick Company Michael Glynn Architects Fontaine Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Reed Mr. and Mrs. Guido Calabresi Toni Gold Mr. and Mrs. David W. Dangremond Arthur Robertshaw Orton P. Camp Jr. Mr. and Mrs. F. Lawrence Goodwin Cly Del Manufacturing Co. Jane L. Schnitzer John Canning & Co., Ltd. Mr. and Mrs. Donald Gordon Lee H. Levey, AIA Myron Stachiw and. Nancy E. Mabry Judith S. Cantwell Robert Gordon Mr. and Mrs. Paul Meade R. Lee Stump Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Carter Thomas B. Gorin Ms. Marge Morrissey John B. Toomey Jr. Mr. and Mrs. George Castell Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Gould Mr. and Mrs. Cormac O’Malley Mr. and Mrs. John Ulrich Center Development Corportation James K. Grant Associates C. Roderick O’Neil The University of Bridgeport Chestnut Oak Company Mrs. Swan M. Grant Matthew Preston Mr. and Mrs. William Vollers Carolyn Cicchetti Allan Greenberg, Architect LLC JOIN THE CONNECTICUT TRUST!

❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ Preservation Circle Name Mr. Mrs. Ms. Miss ❏ Chairman’s Circle $1,000 Street ❏ Preservation Patron $ 500 City State Zip ❏ To wn Green Sponsor $ 250 Telephone ( ) ❏ Circuit Rider Sponsor $ 250 ❏ Heritage Partner $ 100 Employer (for matching gift programs)

❏ Check enclosed (payable to “Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation”) Basic Membership ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ Charge my MasterCard Visa American Express Business $ 100 Mail to: 940 Whitney Avenue ❏ Nonprofit/Municipal $ 75 Card Number Hamden, CT 06517-4002 Telephone: (203) 562-6312 ❏ Family $ 50 Exp. Date / Signature ❏ Individual $ 40 All contributions are tax deductible. You can join the Connecticut Trust online, too, at www.cttrust.org.

14 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 Greenwich Association of Realtors Dr. Charles N. Leach, Jr. Douglas Ovian and Cynthia Clancy H.D. Segur, Inc. Gulick & Spradlin; Renovation Mr. and Mrs. Jack Leonardo Page-Taft Real Estate, Inc. Paul H. Serenbetz Contractors Mr. and Mrs. Richard Lightfoot The Paul Foundation Shallenberger Architectural Design Mr. and Mrs. Murray Haber Henry Link Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. Pearson James H. Shattuck Albert Hadley Susan E. Lockwood Mr. and Mrs. Merton J. Peck Mr. and Mrs. John W. Sheppard, Jr. Roger S. Hanford Fred Lord, IV, and Prisilla Pfeiffer George Penniman Architects, LLC Shuttercraft, Inc. David D. Harlan Architects, LLC LS Remodeling, LLC Phoenix Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Brian J. Skinner Robert E. Hatch AIA Alexandra D. Lyman Arthur Pope Smith Edwards Architects, P.C. Robert L. Heckart Catherine Lynn and Vincent Scully Wayne E. Pratt & Co. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Smith Nan F. Heminway Mr. and Mrs. Timothy MacDonald Brenda Prunty Mr. and Mrs. John Strong Heritage Building & Design Anne G. Maletta Mr. and Mrs. Merle C. Pyne Janet S. Stulting James Heym Marrin, Santore & Tyler, Inc. Ratner Architects, P.C. Suzio/York Hill Christopher Holbrook Stephen C. Marshall, LLC Charlotte Rea and Robert Fricker Mr. and Mrs. Bob Svensk Housing Enterprises, Inc. Benjamin Martin, AIA Renate Recknagel M. Swift & Sons, Inc. Huestis Tucker Architects Susan B. Matheson Barbara L. Reed Dr. and Mrs. John J. Szilkas Richard L. Hughes, III Maurer & Shepherd Joyners Inc. Mr. and Mrs. Paul W. Reiss Mr. and Mrs Terry J. Tondro Mrs. Richard L. Hughes Mr. and Mrs. Richard Mazan Mr. and Mrs. David H. Rhinelander Leland Torrence Enterprises Mary B. Hobler Hyson Mr. and Mrs. David A. McCauley Rice, Davis, Daley & Krenz, Inc. Total Concept Restoration Daniel C. Ioime Jean and John McClellan Mr. and Mrs. Edwin T. Rice Mr. and Mrs. David T. Totman Joseph E. B. Johnson Mr. and Ms. James S. McConnell Mr. and Mrs. Norman Rich Tour de Force Designs Johnson Millwork, Inc. Dr. and Mrs. William B. McCullough Betty Richards Trinity College Library Betty Ann Johnston Carole A. Laydon McElrath Mr. and Mrs. Walter G. Rodiger, Jr. Theodore Tucci and Nancy A. Hronek Stephen J. Joncus, AIA, Architects Jim Mclaughlin Kathryn Rosa Te rry Twigg Mrs. Hugh M. Jones Timothy J. Meldrum Stewart G. Rosenblum Dr. Eric M. Van Rooy Jones Family Farm Mrs. S. Russell Mink Mr. and Mrs. Stephen A. Ross Van Zelm Heywood & Shadford, Inc. Bill Kapura; Building Contractor Edward T. Mohylowski Linda Roth Claire F. Vanderbilt Robert Kaufman Mr. and Mrs. Bruce E. Monahan Victor Rothman for Stained Glass Bernard Vinick Paulette Kaufmann Jeffrey Morgan James J. Ryan L. Wagner and Associates Mr. and Mrs. William Keister Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Morris The S/L/A/M Collaborative Architects Wertheimer & Associates Jean R. Kelley Mr. and Mrs. Edmond N. Morse Rob Sanders Westridge Development Corp. Francoise A. Kelz Richard Murawski Mr. and Mrs. Richard V. Santoro Ellen Wigren Kemper Associates, Architects Mr. and Mrs. Jeffry E. Muthersbaugh Mr. and Mrs. David C. Sargent Willard Restorations Mr. and Mrs. Keith L. Knowlton Mystic River Foundry, LLC Margaret H. Scanlon Norma E. Williams Mr. and Mrs. Harvey L. Koizim Nelson Edwards Architects Philip H. Schaeffer and Irene S. Woods Restoration Services, Inc. Konowitz, Kahn and Company, P.C. Beth Nelson Auerbach Woodstock Fine Arts John J. Kriz New Haven Colony Historical Society Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Schaffer Yale University Mr. and Mrs. Andris Kurins Elizabeth Normen Jane L. Schnitzer George Yonnone, Restorations J & R Lamb Studios, Inc. Noyes Vogt Architects Schoenhardt Architects Mr. and Mrs. Joe L. Zaring Judith Larson Associates Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Ohly Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Schwartz Bob Zoni Mr. and Mrs. Arthur L. Lathrop Jerry G. Olson Pamela E. Searle

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15 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MARCH/APRIL 2005 Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation 940 Whitney Avenue Hamden, CT 06517-4002 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE Phone: (203) 562-6312 PAID Fax: (203) 773-0107 NEW HAVEN, CT Email: [email protected] PERMIT NO. 72 Web: www.cttrust.org

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ing down the hill into the village, the viewer sees tall, powerful yet North Grosvenordale: elegant brick towers shooting skywards. Located above the river, and visible throughout the town, the mill looms over all and pro- Elegance, Utility and Power claims its importance by virtue of its siting and its form. A cor- belled cornice edges the roofline, while long, rows of arched win- dows line the façade, punctuated by the imposing stair towers ineteenth-century industrial buildings are an detailed with pilasters, arched window hoods, and ornately cor- imposing yet little understood legacy of belled belfries with bell-shaped roofs. Connecticut’s era as an industrial powerhouse. Nineteenth-century factory owners used industrial architec- NowN often perceived as useless or dangerous, slated for demoli- ture as an advertisement. In many period illustrations, their facto- tion, or simply crumbling, they are seldom appreciated for their ries — smoke coiling out of numerous chimneys, freight cars architectural merit or message. In Windham County, however, nearby — are pictured with landscaped surroundings, and even where textile mills reigned su- with well-dressed ladies appar-

C. W preme from the turn of the 19th ently strolling in the gardens. century through the 1930s, there igren The combination of stylish are still a few places where a buildings, smoke and bustle, all glimpse of past industrial glory in a fine setting, suggested can be found, and one of the modern efficiency. best is North Grosvenordale. continued on page 12 The first textile mills in the

area were located downstream in C. W

a place known as Masonville af- igren ter its then-owners. In 1848, THE Providence physician and busi- Best IN nessman William Grosvenor, who had married the Mason CON- heiress, assumed control of these Places THE mills. After the Civil War, in or- IN NECTI- der to take advantage of expand- Best Places ing markets and improved tech- CUT nology, Grosvenor purchased the CONNECTICUT water privilege upstream of his factories. In 1872 he built a new, much larger, textile complex there to designs by Providence mill engineer F. P. Sheldon. It was an ambitious project: a four-story mill more than 450 feet long, with a 135-foot wing projecting from the rear — nearly 200,000 square feet of space. Thanks to Sheldon’s expertise, the new mill was a model of practicality and efficiency. The narrow footprint, in combination with the numerous large windows, al- lowed for maximum light. Interiors are vast open spaces broken up by minimal columns for support. The T-shaped plan allowed for efficient power transmission from the ell. The stair towers, separate from the main portion of the mill for fire safety, con- tained cisterns to provide pressure for fire hoses. But the mill is more than merely practical; Sheldon and Grosvenor consciously made it impressive, too. Driving or walk-