Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven and Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance Receive Griswold Award

The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Connecticut Trust presented the 2009 Harlan H. Griswold Award in Historic Preservation to two nonprofit housing organizations, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven and the Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, of Hartford. In a time of economic troubles it is more than appropriate to honor these two organizations that rely on historic preservation to strengthen urban neighborhoods.

Since 1979, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven (NHS) has redeveloped 385 units of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families. While the group’s work always included historic buildings, until the mid-1990s there was no consistent policy for their treatment. The main goal was to make houses habitable, and finances often dictated the least expensive methods, regardless of their effect. What made the difference was the availability of Federal funding, which required following the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. “This raised our consciousness about preservation,” says Henry P. Dynia, Jr., Director of Design and Construction for NHS.

Soon, what began as a requirement became a mission. Dynia continues, “We realized that the houses looked good to begin with, and most of the things that we could do to change them wouldn’t improve them. So we try to stay as close as possible to the original design intent.”

NHS tries to cluster its projects, hoping to inspire neighboring property owners to undertake improvements of their own. The organization is currently doing this with Fairlawn Manor, a group of 12 houses abandoned by a private developer. Each is being restored to historic standards using, among other things, the State Historic Homes Tax Credit. 

In Hartford, Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (NINA) concentrates on a single neighborhood, Asylum Hill. Located west of downtown, the area, a National Register district, has a rich stock of Italianate, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival houses. In the 20^th century, however, Asylum Hill fell on hard times. By the 1990s, 68 percent of the dwelling units were one-bedroom or studio apartments, and 49 properties were designated as blighted.

The idea for NINA was born in 2003, when six major institutions located in Asylum Hill—Aetna, The Hartford, ING, Mass Mutual, Saint Francis Hospital and Webster Bank—joined forces to bring stability back to the neighborhood, says Ken Johnson, NINA’s executive director.

NINA rehabilitates abandoned and neglected houses, converting them back to one- or two-family, owner occupied homes and reselling them at competitive prices. Since 2004 the organization has renovated and resold nine historic buildings, marketing them with such fanciful names as “The Victorian Lady” and “Queen Anne with a Dutch Touch”—references to their history or architecture. “The buildings all have personalities,” says Johnson, and the names help build public appreciation for them.

In addition to buying and rehabbing properties for sale, NINA helps current homeowners improve their properties. One of the group’s first projects was to repair and repaint a house on Garden Street, a gateway into the neighborhood. In collaboration with AARP and Rebuilding Together Hartford, NINA provided free safety and home repair services to twenty homeowners, helping elderly residents to remain in their homes. 

Both NHS and NINA rely heavily on historic rehabilitation tax credits to bring their projects to reality. NHS has been one of the largest recipients of Connecticut’s Historic Homes Tax Credit; to date, the organization has used $1.375 million from the program to rehab 52 units of housing. “The Connecticut historic homes tax credit is what really made preservation our standard approach,” says NHS’s Dynia. NINA also has made the historic tax credits a cornerstone of its efforts. “The tax credit program provides the vital resources necessary to create homeownership opportunities while maintaining the historic character of our neighborhood, which in the long run will sow the seeds of our future revival,” says Johnson. To date, NINA has revitalized more than dozen historic homes utilizing historic tax credits. 

In addition, both organizations back up their construction projects with technical assistance, homeowner education and counseling, and community-building programs, to help ensure long-term preservation of the buildings and neighborhoods they have rehabbed.

The Harlan H. Griswold Award in Historic Preservation is presented jointly by the Connecticut Trust and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, in memory of Harlan H. Griswold, longtime chair of the Connecticut Historical Commission (the CCT’s predecessor agency) and a founder of the Trust. By their achievements in revitalizing two Connecticut cities through preserving historic buildings, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven and Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance exemplify Harlan Griswold’s leadership, vision and dedication to preserving Connecticut’s heritage and making our state a better place for all of its citizens. 

For more information on this year’s recipients, visit their websites:

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven: www.nhsofnewhaven.org

Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance: www.ninahartford.org