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OUR HERITAGE
To Save, Or Not To Save?
Is Connecticut doing enough to preserve the past for the future?
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Business New Haven
7/12/1999
By:
Priscilla Searles
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Town greens, historic buildings and museum exhibitions are reminders of Connecticut's colorful history. But are we doing our part to preserve our heritage for tomorrow's generation?
Restoration and preservation have become bywords in the 1990s, but too late for many buildings that fell to the wrecking ball before it became fashionable to cling to all that is old.
Do we save Aunt Mary's tea service to pass down to our children, and, if we do, will the history behind it matter to the next generation? All of us have boxes of stuff we can't bear to part with; conversely, we've all tossed out things only to find out later they had become highly "collectible."
Saving bits and pieces is easy, but saving buildings is complicated and often results in pitched battles - to save or not to save?
There are plentiful success stories in Connecticut, fine buildings that have been restored and preserved and are available for public viewing.
The Academy, located on Orange Center Road in Orange, was built in 1812 and served as a high school and central meeting house for the town. On Sundays the building was used for religious services.
Between 1878 and 1967 the building functioned as a town hall and was later employed by the board of education from 1967 to 1990. Divided into office space for many years, it was hard to visualize what the interior looked like in the early 19th century.
But Orange came to the realization that preserving the building in its original configuration was far more important than merely providing additional office space. Today the restored structure houses the Orange Historical Society and a museum. Both buildings are located in Orange's designated historic district.
The Orange Historical Society's first project was the Stone-Otis House, also on Orange Center Road. Like the academy, the building had most recently been employed as office space, with much of its history-revealing wall space hidden behind office dividers and contemporary materials.
When the society began to restore the building, originally an 1830 farmhouse and general store, evidence of its original use could be found in the form of printed general-store notes written on the original walls. The society has brought the building back to its original appearance, doing considerable restoration work both inside and out. Visitors can now travel back in history to the days of the eclectic general store.
What seems like historic dross to us is frequently revealed to be gold to someone else. That was the case of the Noah Webster House.
Author of The American Dictionary of the English Language, Webster spent his later years in a house on the corner of Temple and Grove streets in New Haven, where he died in 1843 at the age of 85. The house was dismantled and moved to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village Museum in Michigan in 1936.
Many people believe that New Haven, for example, has little of its past left. But there are fine examples that point to the city's heritage. The entire Wooster Square district is dotted with buildings that continue to shine.
The three churches on the New Haven Green are the pride of the community. But by the 1980s the last of New Haven's original burial ground, located under Center Church, was fast disappearing due to extensive water damage to the stones. It took a group of citizens and a lot of research (not to mention fundraising) to ensure that the last of New Haven's burial ground will be around for many generations to come.
The Ives Memorial Library at 133 Elm Street in New Haven was built in 1908 and is a Preservation Trust Landmark. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the building was constructed during a call for civic improvements and a "city beautiful" movement.
Another Trust landmark is the neo-Classical-style Connecticut Savings Bank building at 45 Church Street in New Haven. Built in 1906, the interior of the bank was restored in the 1970s. Today it serves as a First Union Bank branch.
More contemporary buildings fall into the category of structures that are worth noting, if not always saving.
The Southern New Haven Telephone Co.'s longtime headquarters at 227 Church Street in New Haven was built in 1937. The 17-story structure was erected toward the end of America's golden age of the skyscraper, and was considered the city's premier office building in the inter-war years. Designed by R.W. Foote and Douglas Orr, the building is an interesting example of Art Deco.
Guilford has preserved what is reputedly Connecticut's oldest stone building. The Henry Whitfield State Museum, located on Old Whitfield Street, was build in 1639. Much of the house, which once served as a pastor's home and fortress, has been restored and re-created using furnishings that reflect the time.
A fine example of an early salt box is located at 124 Main Street in Branford. The 1724 Harrison House has what was considered a characteristic steep roof slope and a central chimney. Both houses are open to the public.
It isn't always historic buildings that we fail to preserve for future generations. An important chapter of New Haven's manufacturing history now resides in another state.
When no group in New Haven showed any interest in preserving and displaying a large collection of New Haven-made Winchester rifles, Olin Corp., then the owner of Winchester, donated the Winchester Arms Collection to the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center in Cody, Wy. Our loss.
If saving buildings is often complicated and expensive, take the case of the Farmington Canal Corridor. The canal was once a major contributor to New Haven's economy. When the canal became impractical buildings began to appear along the canal route.
Yale built a number of buildings near the southern terminus of the canal route and much that remained of the rest of the right-of-way was threatened with redevelopment and various building projects.
It took the efforts of private citizens who wanted something good to come out of the Farmington Canal that citizens could appreciate today and the Farmington Canal Rail-Trail project was born.
What makes a property worth saving? People will always disagree on what to save and what to level to make way for new development. But there are key elements that go into the decision: the site of an important event in history, the home of a major historic figure, a building designed by an important architect, the design or unusual building are some of the issues that get people taking sides over the issue of whether to save or not to save.
Connecticut has done a great deal to save historic buildings. Every town in the state can point to some early structure that remains standing through the efforts of history-minded citizens. Local preservation groups have done much to make the public aware that once a building is lost, you can't bring it back.
The Antiquarian & Landmarks Society has undertaken to preserve a number of historic structures in the state, using their Connecticut sites as museums in addition to conducting special programs including craft and living-history programs. The society's sites also offer prime examples of early construction for architects.
Most Connecticut municipalities have established historic districts which have gone a long way to protecting some of the state's most beautiful buildings.
As for the next generation, when do we start to teach them the importance of these sites? Except for an occasional field trip, most schools don't attempt to stress the importance of preservation. What happens to today's buildings tomorrow?
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