News from the State Historic Preservation Office

            As of December, the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism (CCT) has a new home. The Commission, created in 2003 to combine formerly separate offices of historic preservation, tourism, arts, and film, has long intended to bring all those offices together into a single spot, where they can better work together. That goal was realized when the offices all moved into new shared quarters in Constitution Plaza.

            For the Commission’s Historic Preservation and Museums Division, this move was bittersweet: since 1971 the Division and its predecessor, the Connecticut Historical Commission (CHC), had occupied the historic Amos Bull house on South Prospect Street, which the CHC bought and moved from Main Street to save it from demolition. The CHC’s restoration and use of the house provided a living example of historic preservation at work. In 1992 the CHC expanded its offices into the adjacent Butler-McCook carriage house.

            It’s a shame that the state’s historic preservation office will no longer be able to set a visible example of historic preservation. However, we hope that the promise of increased agency visibility and interdisciplinary cooperation will be realized and make up for that loss.

            The new mailing address for all CCT divisions is 1 Constitution Plaza, 2nd floor, Hartford, Connecticut 06103. The Historic Preservation and Museum Division will have new telephone numbers; until they are announced, call the main number, (860) 256-2800.