Connecticut Preservation News November/ December 2004 Volume XXVII, No. 6 Downtown Renaissance New Residents Flock to Connecticut Cities Christopher Wigren C. W C. he sidewalks no longer roll up at five o’clock. Res- igren taurants serve dinner as well as lunch. Weekends see crowds come out to shop or stroll and chat. The good life no longer has to be lived in a freestanding house on two acres in the suburbs. Instead, its set- ting can be a loft in a converted office building. After years of Tstruggling to attract businesses, Connecticut downtowns are see- ing a new influx of residents. As cities grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries, increasing noise, crowds, smells and high real estate costs drove anyone who could to live in the countryside — or at least the suburban ap- proximation of countryside. Zoning regulations, with their em- phasis on separating uses, further encouraged this trend. After World War II, planning theories and urban renewal made down- town living almost unthinkable. Once people began living in the suburbs, the logical consequence was to want to shop and work there, too. Business fled the cities, leaving behind empty spaces that are now attracting a new generation of city dwellers. In fact, most Connecticut cities have always had some down- town residents. Urban renewal in New Haven and Hartford in- cluded some close-in apartment towers, such as the Bushnell Tower in Hartford, designed by I.M. Pei. In the 1980s, local entrepreneur Joel Schiavone redeveloped New Haven’s Chapel and College streets with ground-level shops and restaurants and upper-level apartments, many of which attracted Yale students or faculty members. Other successful downtown revitalization projects in the 1980s and ’90s included SoNo in South Norwalk and New Haven’s Ninth Square, both of which reused historic buildings. Since the late 1990s the rate of market-rate residential devel- Luxury lofts in downtown New Haven. opment in downtowns has increased markedly. New Haven has probably seen the largest number of projects. One of the most prominent is the conversion of the former Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET) headquarters on Church Street, In This Issue now known as The Eli, to apartments with monthly rents ranging from $910 to more than $3,000. At the corner of Church and Book Notes 3 Chapel streets — the very heart of the city’s commercial down- Preserving Lighthouses 8 town — the Cutler’s Block and the Woolworth building are being continued page 14 The Best Places in Connecticut 16 The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, non-profit organization. ISSN 1084-189X AT THE TRUST From the Executive Director The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is a nonprofit statewide membership organization es- our members of the Trust’s board tablished by a special act of the State Legislature in of trustees, Martha Alexander, 1975. Working with local preservation groups and F individuals as well as with statewide organizations, Joan Carty, Lisa Holmes and chairman it encourages, advocates and facilitates historic pres- Ted Ells, joined me and our two Circuit ervation throughout Connecticut. Riders, Nina Harkrader and Brad Schide, Board of Trustees in Louisville, Kentucky, for the annual Officers meeting of the National Trust for His- Theodore F. Ells, Chairman, Branford David H. Barkin, Vice Chairman, Woodbridge toric Preservation in late September. Susan U. Lawrence, Secretary, Darien Among the valuable work sessions we all Stanley G. Fullwood, Treasurer, Canton John T. Kahler, Assistant Treasurer, Norwalk attended were a training workshop for his- toric district commissions, real estate de- Gubernatorial Appointees Theodore F. Ells, Branford velopment for historic properties, use of Thanks to Dow Chemical’s Union Carbide The Hon. Arthur Lathrop, Norwich historic tax credits, a comparison of re- Corporation, the Trust’s conference room has Jeffry Muthersbaugh, Bethel volving loan funds, and information on new tables, chairs and bookcases. The furniture comes from the award-winning Union Carbide Additional Members of the protecting cultural landscapes. The confer- Board of Trustees Headquarters, in Danbury, designed by Kevin Dawn Adiletta, Woodstock ence attracts over 2,000 attendees, many Roche John Dinkeloo Associates of Hamden and Martha Alexander, New Haven of whom are associated with a local or completed in 1982. Mary Anderson, Noank Joan Carty, Bridgeport statewide preservation organization and J. Barclay Collins, Sharon with Main Street Centers; others are plan- our annual list of The Most Important Ron Cooper, New Haven Inger McCabe Elliott, Stonington ners, developers, real estate agents, barn Threatened Historic Places in Connecti- Walter Fiederowicz, Litchfield enthusiasts, restoration contractors, archi- cut. Once the list was published here and Glenn Geathers, Hartford in the Hartford Courant’s Sunday PLACE Lisa Holmes, Hadlyme tects, community loan fund agents and so Adrienne Farrar Houel, Bridgeport on. A mix of fun and vibrant people. section, our intern from Albertus Magnus Kenneth Johnson, Hartford In September, for the 6th College, Stefania Viscusi, Clare Meade, Wethersfield Judith Miller, Bridgeport year, the Trust held House sent press releases to alert Guido Petra, Guilford Talk, this time in Griswold. This year’s list regional media of our FiFi Sheridan, Greenwich Gary J. Singer, Ridgefield During a morning of torren- has already led choices. A media storm Myron Stachiw, Woodstock tial rain, Helmut and Pamela erupted, especially after AP Adele Strelchun, Waterbury, North Canaan to actions that Jane Talamini, Fairfield Reinholtz graciously let 25 caught the story. We are The Hon. Patricia Widlitz, Guilford strangers tromp through may ultimately certainly pleased that this Staff their 18th-century work-in- save some of the year’s list elicited so much Helen Higgins, Executive Director progress. Jane Montanaro, attention and, in some Christopher Wigren, Deputy Director threatened places. Cathyann Plumer, Membership Manager one of the Trust’s network of cases, has already led to Brad Schide, Connecticut Circuit Rider underpaid consultants, once actions that may ultimately Nina E. Harkrader, Connecticut Circuit Rider Elizabeth Hart Malloy, Content Manager, again organized the day which featured the save some of the threatened places. www.cttrust.org expert musings of architectural historian The Trust has been invited to add an Stefania Viscusi, Intern James Sexton, Ph.D., and slate roofing historic preservation component to the Connecticut Preservation News guru Rich Susca of C.W. Bostwick. Heritage Advancement Program in Editor: Christopher Wigren Editor, Historic Properties Exchange: Anne Stillman The September/October issue of greater Hartford. The Connecticut Hu- Graphic Design: J.M. Communications Connecticut Preservation News featured manities Council, the Greater Hartford Printing: Kramer Printing Arts Council, the Hartford Foundation for Affiliate Organizations Public Giving and the Greater Hartford Merritt Parkway Conservancy Tourism District announced in September Residents for Rural Roads a new granting program to enable qualify- Connecticut Preservation News is published bimonthly by the Connecti- cut Trust for Historic Preservation, 940 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, ing heritage sites to hire the staff needed Connecticut 06517-4002. Publication is made possible by the support of the members of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation to serve more people as tourism in the area and by a matching grant-in-aid from the U.S. Department of the Inte- rior, National Park Service, through the Connecticut Historical Com- increases. For those organizations and their 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 identified partners, the Trust will offer tech- Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation assumes no responsibility nical preservation assistance and a dedicated for the advertisements. This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and granting pool whose funds will support 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. historic preservation or rehabilitation pro- Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, or handicap in its federally assisted pro- jects that will add to the “heritage readiness” 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- of the heritage sites. For more information, partment of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. please visit www.ctheritage.org. © 2004, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. All rights reserved. — Helen Higgins ISSN 1084-189X 2 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 BOOK NOTES and subdivisions that serve cars better than people, and drain the life out of historic town and city centers. Hayden claims Dolores Hayden, A Field Guide to there is a war being waged on sprawl Sprawl (W. W. Norton, 2004), 144 across the country, where communities are pages, $24.95. waking up and enacting restrictions on this unsustainable growth. “Americans do hat do a “duck” and a “LULU” not have to tolerate sprawl”, she says. She Whave in common? They are calls on concerned citizens to challenge the terms that make up a new vocabulary economic forces behind sprawl and pursue describing specific types of sprawl in this a balanced, integrated built environment country, as presented by Dolores Hayden that supports historic neighborhoods and in her new book, A Field Guide to Sprawl. the natural features of the landscape. A “duck” is a building that serves as an —Brad Schide advertisement for the product sold within it. “LULU” stands for a “locally unwanted David K. Leff, The Last Undiscovered land use,” such as a waste incinerator or a Place (University of Virginia Press, nuclear facility. Fifty other terms are de- 2004), 247 pages, $27.95.