May is National Historic Preservation Month and we want to share with you various ways to explore and participate.
Do you know which buildings and neighborhoods are already designated as historic landmarks that are listed on the National Register in Stamford or another town? Here are links to learn more.
Do you know of historic places in your neighborhood or others in Stamford or other cities? Send us pictures and descriptions of your favorite places. Do you know of an historic building or place that is threatened with demolition or other destruction? Let us know. Write your comments here or send an email to president@hnppimc.org
You can also explore or take action on the statewide website of Preservation Connecticut: https://preservationct.org/action-center The National Trust for Historic Preservation has created ways “experience historic places, virtually.”
Legal action must begin now to stop developer Building and Land Technology (BLT) from demolishing three important buildings in Stamford’s South End National Register Historic District. We have barely six months before a demolition delay runs out and the demolitions would be able to proceed. Please add your signature below.
BLT or its affiliates have filed applications to demolish the Nineteenth Century Blickensderfer Typewriter factory building (650 Atlantic Street—just southeast of the Metro North station) and two wood frame multi-family houses (79 Garden Street and 130 Henry Street—across the street from the Lathon Wider Community Center.) All three have been deemed “contributing” buildings to the South End historic district.
The South End is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its strong sense of place, the architectural quality of its buildings and the stories these buildings tell about Stamford’s history. The world’s very first portable typewriter was invented in Stamford by Mr. Blickensderfer and manufactured in his Atlantic Street factory.
Background
In the 1990s, the City of Stamford approved a well-considered plan by a developer to redevelop problematic brownfield sites in the South End outside the National Register historic district with a mix of mostly market-rate housing, to be balanced by keeping and rehabbing the large portion of Stamford’s affordable housing stock within the historic district. The zoning approval for the new construction in this plan was subsequently built-out by BLT after the 2008 crash.
Against previously articulated city goals, BLT now looks beyond that plan and intends to demolish existing affordable housing in historic buildings and clear their sites without informing the public of what it plans to build. The zoning changes they desire indicate that they want to replace the historic district with large scale construction similar to what they have built outside the historic district.
To this end, BLT seeks to demolish the two multi-family houses and factory building in order to widen Garden Street for purposes it has not made clear to the public.
In 2016 BLT withdrew an earlier demolition application for these properties after the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, South End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone and Stamford’s Historic Neighborhood Preservation demonstrated the economic feasibility of rehabilitating and re-using these buildings for new affordable housing to the State Historic Preservation Office and State Attorney General.
You can help Stamford maintain its historic places and affordable housing stock by signing the petition at the following link on change.org.
