What is an
opportunity? It might be a threatened building that still has potential. It
might be a new funding mechanism or technological advance or some other innovation
that offers a new way of preserving and revitalizing historic places. It might
be a success that has the potential to fostering further successes. Building on
its tradition of listing important threatened historic places around the state,
the Connecticut Trust has expanded that approach to highlight opportunities for
preservationists.
The big news of 2009 is the
economic downturn, which was just beginning to be felt a year ago. In spite of
hardships, the poor economy also offers some opportunities. Of course, the
slowdown in construction has resulted in a slowdown of demolition as well. But
more important, the poor economy offers preservationists, officials, and
property owners breathing space in which to plan for future uses that preserve,
maintain and enhance historic places—the kind of thoughtful planning that often
gets short-changed during busier times, in the rush to take advantage of
development opportunities. If we can lay the foundation now, by putting historic
designation, appropriate zoning regulations and incentives and broader planning
guidelines in place, then some last-minute battles can be prevented in the
future, and the chances of preserving historic places will be much greater.
Statewide: Federal stimulus
programs
In the wake of last year’s real estate crash, historic
buildings across the state have been among those subject to foreclosure. So
far, money from several stimulus programs can be applied to historic buildings,
but there is no funding specifically for preservation projects. On the other
hand, some programs also provide funding that can be used for demolition, and
there are still fears that mandated reviews, such as Section 106 reviews, could
be short-changed (see CPN, May/June 2009).
Opportunity:
The Connecticut Trust has created a proposal for explicitly identifying and
providing funding for preservation activities in any future stimulus
legislation and has presented this proposal to both Senator Christopher Dodd
and Commissioner Joan McDonald of the Connecticut Department of Economic and
Community Development. The proposal has two principal elements:
·
Technical assistance and funding for repair,
rehabilitation, and weatherization of historic urban residential and commercial
buildings; and
·
Restoration incentive loans for historic houses
under foreclosure.
These activities both can take place under current stimulus
programs, but there is no guarantee that they will. Specifically incorporating
preservation into stimulus planning will ensure that historic buildings will not
be left behind.
Statewide: Urban
Religious Complexes
Urban churches with dwindling congregations and aging facilities
face special challenges. While this is a long-standing concern, crises struck
several important historic sites this summer.
The Archdiocese of Hartford has announced
that Sacred Heart Catholic Church,
in New Haven,
will be closed as of September 19. Sacred Heart’s congregation is small and
poor, and its buildings need repairs—although preservationists contest the
archdiocese’s estimates of the extent and cost of those repairs (see CPN
September/October 2008). The archdiocese is reportedly planning to demolish the
massive stone church (1851) and the convent (1895), while the rectory (1884)
and school (1893) will apparently continue in use. All contribute to the
Trowbridge Square National Register district. Offers by the New Haven
Preservation Trust to help find new users for the church and convent have received
no response.
For years, Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Stamford, has pursued plans to sell part of
its property to create a much needed endowment. The land to be sold contains
the church’s rectory, designed in 1873 by Henry Hudson Holly and, like the
church, listed on the National Register. In July the city planning and zoning
commission approved the plans for a 94-unit apartment building on the site,
necessitating demolition of the rectory. The developer is supposed to reuse
some of the stone and brick to build an addition for the church, but the
rectory is being offered for one dollar to anyone who will move it off the site
by November 15. The approval also reportedly includes a preservation easement
to protect the church building.
In South
Norwalk, the former First
Methodist Church, a Richardsonian Romanesque structure in yellow brick and
granite (1896) closed recently and is now for sale. One drawback is the lack of
parking space. The church lies between a new 600,000 square-foot mixed use
development and I-95, making it a possible target for demolition—or, perhaps,
offering an opportunity to build on a larger development scheme.
Opportunities: Developing
underused assets can be a way for some congregations to support ministry
programs. Saint Andrew’s is following the example of St.
John’s Episcopal, also in Stamford,
which built income-producing buildings in the 1980s, but without demolishing
any historic structures. But Saint Andrew’s rectory, as well as the buildings
at Sacred Heart, could qualify for the federal rehabilitation tax credit available
for buildings listed on the National Register. In addition, Stamford offers zoning incentives, such as
increased density or reduced parking requirements, in exchange for
rehabilitation of historic buildings.
Given the
current state of the real estate market, this may not be an advantageous time for
religious organizations to sell properties if there is any way they can wait.
In many cases, a relatively small investment might buy a congregation a few years
in which to explore long-range options, including, if necessary, sale. Extra
time could also give congregations more opportunity to explore options for
shaping development to allow long-range stewardship for historic buildings while
providing a reasonable return to support their programs and other facilities,
and to lay needed groundwork, such as National Register nominations or
preservation easements.
Statewide: Residential Teardowns
When the economy was booming, all too many owners wanted to
tear down historic houses in order to build bigger, grandiose replacements. In
the downturn, teardowns continue to be a problem, but for different reasons. Now,
some owners want to reduce taxes and other carrying costs while they wait for
recovery. Other houses languish vacant on the market, and rather than being
torn down outright, they may face demolition by neglect.
One example is the Benjamin Tallmadge House in Litchfield,
home of a Revolutionary War hero, built in 1775. While the house, which is
located in a National Historic Landmark district and a local historic district,
is not a likely teardown, the longer it sits empty, the more costly any repairs
will be.
Neglect has led to more serious
destruction in Farmington,
where 123 Main Street suffered a serious fire
in July. Although located in a National Register district and a local historic
district, the 18th-century house has been neglected for years and its
owner has rebuffed urgings by the historic district commission to repair or maintain
it.
In Westport, the owners of the Stratton-Rippe house, built in about 1770
and remodeled in the 1890s, have filed for a demolition permit—not, they claim,
because they actually intend to raze the house, but rather to call attention to
it.According to a local newspaper,
the house was on the market for 176 days in 2008 and 90 days in 2009; perhaps
it is overpriced.
Opportunities: Preservation
groups might consider purchasing options on endangered properties, which usually
be done for just a few thousand dollars. Doing so would give the organization
time to evaluate the property, explore potential ways of protecting it, and
search for a preservation-minded buyer. Of course, the property has to be for
sale; many of the most troublesome cases are houses being neglected by owners
who nonetheless refuse to part with them.
Statewide: Summer
Cottages
Connecticut’s
shoreline, lakefronts and riverbanks have a long history as summertime escapes,
and they are sprinkled with seasonal homes that range from modest bungalows to grand
estates. In recent years skyrocketing property values, particularly for
waterfront land, fueled orgies of demolition or drastic renovation, creating
pretentious monsters that dwarf their surroundings.
Opportunity:
Even before the crash there were the beginnings of a backlash against the excesses
of the past decade. Sarah Susanka’s popular “Not So Big” books, including this
year’s Not So Big Remodeling, offer suggestions
for houses that base their appeal less on sheer size and more on skillful
design and architectural quality. At the same time, the environmental movement
encourages smaller buildings as a way of conserving energy. These trends guided
Wolfried and Anita Mielert’s
renovation of their 1932 beach cottage in Old Saybrook. “I’m aghast at some of
the wonderful homes being torn down,” says Anita, a former CTHP Trustee and
currently one of two National Trust Advisors for Connecticut. “Why not do sensitive
remodeling and renovation and not change the character of beach communities?” For
municipalities, the cool market offers an opportunity to consider zoning
regulations that don’t encourage destruction by allowing out-of-scale
construction.
Bristol: Bristol
Armory
Built in 1927 and 1928 to designs by Payne & Keefe, a New London firm that produced several Connecticut armories, the Bristol Armory mixes
vaguely medieval details with streamlined forms that anticipated Art Deco
massing. The armory is closed, and the State is looking into selling it as
surplus property, an option that seems very likely given Governor Rell’s recent
statements that such sales could help the state close its budget deficit. If so,
the city will have right of first refusal, and Bristol is looking into buying the armory,
although no specific use has been decided on.
Opportunity:
Plan now for reuse. In early July, Michael Nicastro, president of the Central Connecticut
Chamber of Commerce, wrote an op-ed piece in Bristol Press urging this. The
armory’s location could be a selling point, since it is only a block from the
site of the 1960s strip mall that the city hopes to redevelop with a pedestrian-friendly
mix of residences and shops. A National Register nomination, to allow the
building to qualify for federal rehabilitation tax credits, could be a first
step.
Collinsville: Collins Axe Company dams
The Collins Axe Company built a worldwide market for its
edge tools. The entire mill site, along with the company village, is listed on the
National Register. Two dams on the Farmington
River provided power for
the factory, but since the company closed, they have been idle. Upkeep of historic
dams can become a burden, adding fuel to efforts to remove them to restore
original water flow (see CPN, September/ October 2004).
Opportunity: Canton’s first selectman,
Richard Barlow, wants to get a permit to reuse the Collins Company dams to
generate electricity. He and other local officials think that the dams could
provide low-cost, clean power to as many as 2,000 homes. The main obstacle seems
to be negotiating state and federal regulations.
While some environmentalists argue that all dams should be
removed, the potential benefits of flood control and relatively clean energy,
as well as preserving part of the historic industrial landscape, offer
arguments for keeping some of them. Careful planning and mitigation efforts
such as building fish ladders, should make such projects acceptable to everyone.
Putnam: Cargill Falls Mill
With surviving portions built between 1824 and late 1860s
this mill currently houses storage, a real estate office and an antique shop. Its
site, at the entry to downtown Putnam on Route 44 and overlooking a picturesque
waterfall, is ripe for redevelopment.
Opportunity: With
rehabilitation, the mill could be a catalyst for further revitalization for
downtown Putnam, which has reinvented itself as an antiquing center. The town
has established an industrial heritage overlay zone to encourage redevelopment
of six historic mill properties, including Cargill. The zone allows mixed-use
projects that include housing in the mills, which otherwise are zoned for
commercial and manufacturing uses only. Already used successfully at two of the
other mills, the zone could provide a model for other towns looking to put new
life into historic industrial buildings.
Windsor Locks: Windsor Locks railroad station
Since 2004 the Windsor Locks Preservation Association has
been trying to turn the abandoned building into a museum. Amtrak is currently
processing the organization’s request to take ownership of the station, which
is listed on the National Register.
Opportunity: A
proposal for commuter trains between New Haven
and Springfield
seems to be moving toward approval, and the town is trying to convince Amtrak
to build a new station just north of the historic structure to replace the
current stop, a bus shelter outside of the town center. In July town voters
approved funding for a feasibility study to help make the case to DOT.
Bringing railroad passengers back
into the town center could support revitalization efforts, including redevelopment
of the impressive string of factories along the Windsor Locks
Canal. The historic
station could be an important part of that effort. However, a museum alone
probably wouldn’t generate much activity. Adding commercial use, such as a
coffee shop for commuters, could support the museum as well as broader economic
development.
Woodstock: Chamberlin mill
This saw mill was in existence by 1869 and operated until
the1970s. Listed on the State Register in July, the mill is unique in its
completeness and preservation, including most of its machinery—even a cut-down
1928 Studebaker truck which supplanted water power in the mill’s later years. The
Nature Conservancy acquired the mill in 2008 as part of the Still River
Preserve. While the Conservancy is interested in preserving the mill, doing so is
outside the organization’s mission or expertise.
Opportunity:
A group of local residents, including the Woodstock Historical Society, an
agricultural society, and some old-tractor buffs, prepared the State Register nomination,
has begun cleaning up the site, and has commissioned a building condition
assessment as the first step in ensuring its long-term preservation. This cooperative
venture between historical and environmental groups provides a good model for preserving
historic buildings on open space land, a need that the Connecticut Trust first
identified three years ago (see CPN, September/October 2006).
In another approach, the Department
of Environmental Protection is looking at establishing resident curatorships at
six historic buildings. This program, as practiced in Massachusetts and other
states, gives long-term leases of publicly-owned historic buildings to private
individuals who will commit to renovating and maintaining the buildings to
professional standards—a way of putting these unused historic buildings to good
use without further straining limited public budgets.
