Passion for Place Connecticut Preservation Awards 2016
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Connecticut Preservation News May/June 2016 Volume XXXIX, No. 3 Passion for Place Connecticut Preservation Awards 2016 istoric Preservation truly H is many different things. The projects chosen for this year’s Awards of Merit demonstrate the breadth and depth of preservation activity in Connecticut. Many of them celebrate the people and organizations who protect, rescue, or maintain historic places and who may not even have considered themselves preservation- ists. They range from a band of retiree do-it-yourselfers to small business owners to public-private- nonprofit partnerships, to skilled professionals, to those who Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum assemble the complex Wadsworth Atheneum; Smith Edwards McCoy Architects; Consigli interlocking webs of regula- Construction; CES Mechanical Engineers; Macchi Engineers; George tors, investors, designers Sexton Associates; Stephen Saitis Designs; Jack Design. Nomination: and builders needed to carry Kenton C. McCoy and Tyler Smith, Smith Edwards McCoy Architects off large-scale redevelopment projects, to the dwindling ranks of Our first award makes a high-profile statement about the value of industrial workers who preserve the skills that built Connecticut’s historic preservation for a prominent institution seeking to meet its manufacturing landmarks. What these people have in common never-ending need for more space, better environmental controls, is a conviction that significant places of the past won’t stay in the and of course more storage. past. Thanks to their efforts, these places still have a role to play in The Wadsworth Atheneum is the nation’s oldest continually our modern world. operating art museum, housed in a complex of five interconnected buildings constructed between 1844 and 1968. In 2000 the Atheneum proposed demolishing one of these buildings for a new, cutting-edge structure. With its abstract roofline looming over the In This Issue: older sections, the design was quickly nicknamed “the Dustbuster,” ____________________________________________ and like many such ambitious proposals it went nowhere. ____________________________________________ Funding for Preservation 4 After regrouping, the museum embarked instead on a lower- ____________________________________________ Around the State 6 key program of repair, restoration, and repurposing. Beginning in 2008 it restored the exterior envelope first, repairing masonry and ____________________________________________ Historic Properties Exchange 16 continued on page 2 ____________________________________________ Preserving Historic Cemeteries 20 The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit organization. ISSN 1084-189X Connecticut Preservation Awards Allen Phillips cont’d from page 1 windows and reopening historic skylights. Then attention turned to the interior, where a new storage area was constructed in the basement and mechanical equipment was moved to the rooftop, opening up more space for new and renovated public galleries. This approach actually yielded more gallery space than the Dustbuster scheme would have provided, yet remained within the existing footprint. Reopened in 2015, the Wadsworth demonstrates the power of preservation to revitalize a venerable cultural institution. Rockville, Loom City Lofts Loom City Lofts of Rockville, LP; Joseph Vallone Architects & Development Studio, LLC; Marc S. Levine Real Estate The Wadsworth Atheneum, in Hartford, chose preservation over a high-profile new addition Interests; Enterprise Builders, Inc.; Green to meet its expansion needs. & Levine, LLP; Kestenbaum, Dannenberg & Klein, LLP; Imagineers LLC; Connecticut For decades, adaptive use, the conversion of the first cast-concrete industrial build- Housing Finance Authority; Connecticut of existing buildings to new functions, ings in Connecticut, and in the country. Department of Housing; Connecticut has given new life to historic industrial But severe contamination and location in a Department of Economic & Community complexes in Connecticut, but many still flood plain, among other things, seemed to Development; Boston Financial Investment present daunting challenges. make reuse impossible. By 2003 the Town Management; Eversource; Town of Vernon. One such challenge was the Roosevelt of Vernon was seeking bids to demolish the Nomination: Joseph V. Vallone, AIA Mill in Rockville. Built in 1906, it was one building. continued on page 10 Joseph Vallone Roosevelt Mill, Rockville, converted to Loom City Lofts after 12 years of preparation. 2 CONNECTICUT PRESERVATION NEWS, MAY/JUNE 2016 At the Trust cont’d from page 1 From the Executive Director entral features of Connecticut’s built A SLICE OF MODERNISM IN committed to build a simple—yet surely C landscape, religious structures are RURAL CONNECTICUT for rural Connecticut, a fundamentally essential points of orientation in many In mid-April, I joined the Temple Beth bold—temple of modernist design. Built communities and historic neighbor- Israel Preservation Society and residents of in part from local stone, the austere yet hoods. As detailed elsewhere in this issue, the larger Danielson community to award warm sanctuary is full of light, and, like historic religious properties throughout a grant that will provide critical updates the congregation itself, welcoming. Built in Connecticut are beneficiaries of the latest to the structure’s lighting and electrical stages from 1951 to 1955, the building was round of state grant funding for mainte- systems. The check presentation followed listed on the National Register of Historic nance and repair projects. Administered the group’s annual interfaith community Places in 2013. by the Connecticut Trust on behalf of Passover Seder, a service and celebration Beyond Temple Beth Israel’s qualifica- the State Historic Preservation Office and that served as a wonderful window into the tions as a site of distinctive architecture, my Department of Economic Development strength and story of the community. time in fellowship during Passover Seder (DECD), the Maintenance and Repair The congregation’s history deserves also conveyed that temple’s importance as grant program is a critical source of capital highlighting. Jewish families, survivors of a site of conscience, representing a remark- project funding for historic places of the Holocaust, arrived in the Danielson able story of Holocaust survival, relocation worship, sacred spaces and cemeteries. The area in the late 1940s after their release and resettlement, and the welcome of a Trust’s preservation services director, Jane from displaced persons camps in Europe. new community. Montanaro, and Grants Committee Chair They joined a local Jewish community The Trust is not alone in supporting the Matt Peterson (Guilford) deserve much whose presence in Danielson dates to the preservation of Temple Beth Israel. A 2014 credit for a thorough review and adminis- 1920s. grant from the Daughters of the American tration of this year’s applications. Seeking together to build a perma- Revolution (DAR) awarded funds to assist nent place of worship, the congregation with repairs of the upper terrace of the sanctuary’s main entrance. The Trust is pleased that our own support can further advance the preservation and continued use The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation is a nonprofit statewide membership organization established by a of this site. special act of the State Legislature in 1975. Working with local preservation groups and individuals as well as statewide organizations, it encourages, advocates and facilitates historic preservation throughout Connecticut. PRESERVATION LOSES UNIQUE AND Board of Trustees Advisory Council Connecticut Preservation News is Martha Alexander, New Haven published bimonthly by the Connecticut ACCOMPLISHED VOICES Officers Trust for Historic Preservation, 940 Garry S. Leonard, Chairman, Madison J. Barclay Collins, Sharon Whitney Avenue, Hamden, Connecticut The board and staff of the Connecticut Sara Bronin, Vice-Chairman, Hartford William R. Crowe, Canton 06517. Publication is made possible by support of the members of the Connecticut Edith Pestana, Secretary, Hartford Jared Edwards, FAIA, West Hartford Trust for Historic Preservation and by Trust mourns the loss of two members, Edward W. Munster, Treasurer, Haddam Inger Elliott, Stonington funds provided through the Community realtor Michael Blair of Stonington and Theodore F. Ells, Branford Investment Act in the State of Connecticut. Charles Janson, Assistant Treasurer, The contents and opinions stated herein Darien Gerald Farrell, Jr., Wallingford do not necessarily reflect the views and architect Regina Winters of New Haven. Walter Fiederowicz, Litchfield policies of the State of Connecticut. A single professional reference cannot Gubernatorial Appointees Mimi Findlay, New Canaan Advertisements do not reflect the views Edith Pestana, Hartford or opinions of the Connecticut Trust for Lynn Friedman, Woodbury Historic Preservation. The Connecticut begin to describe the depth and breadth of Edmund Schmidt, Darien Glenn Geathers, Hartford Trust for Historic Preservation does not endorse advertisers and assumes no their respective involvement and influence Additional Members of the Lee Kuckro, Wethersfield responsibility for advertisements. Board of Trustees Stephen S. Lash, Stonington in their communities, or their commit- Margaret Anderson, Cheshire Charles T. Lee, Greenwich © 2016, Connecticut Trust for Historic ment to historic preservation and effective Francis Chiaramonte, Harwinton