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We Preserve Stamford
Since 1977, Historic Neighborhood Preservation, the city’s preeminent non-profit preservation organization, has worked to save and protect Stamford’s unique built environment and championed the preservation of historic buildings, neighborhoods, roads, and vistas.
For decades, HNP founder Renee Kahn led a dedicated coalition advocating for historic buildings one by one, as they were threatened with demolition. In 1978, she led the first effort in Stamford to survey the city’s historic resources–buildings that embody our local, regional and/or national history. A focused team of volunteers documented many of Stamford’s historic buildings, recording the architectural characteristics of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.
In 1981 Renee worked with Urban Planner Rick Redniss to develop a local ordinance that would combine historic preservation with affordable housing in such a way that allowed developers a floor area bonus for saving an historic building. Then in 1986, she worked with Architectural Historian Nils Kerschius to advocate designation of Stamford’s South End neighborhood as an historic district. This neighborhood had grown up around the Yale & Towne Lock Works during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
Over the years, under Renee’s leadership, HNP succeeded in saving many houses and other buildings. In 2014 HNP worked with the Hubbard Heights Neighborhood Association to document the history of this largely intact historic neighborhood to gain historic district status on the National Register of Historic Places. Then in 2015 HNP led to document historic resources in the Cove and Glenbrook neighborhoods to save the 1939 addition to Stamford’s ca. 1916 Atlantic Street Post Office, where longtime local company Pitney Bowes’ pioneered postal automation during the mid-Twentieth century.
“Place is more than just a location on a map. A sense of place is a unique collection of qualities and characteristics – visual, cultural, social, and environmental – that provide meaning to a location. Sense of place is what makes one city or town different from another, but sense of place is also what makes our physical surroundings worth caring about.”
Although HNP surveyed and documented many historic buildings in Stamford, naming and listing alone does not prevent demolition, and so many have been lost to more densely-built new housing. Long known as “a developer’s town,” Stamford’s history of prioritizing new development over preservation led city officials to overlook their own city plan declarations that buildings in historic districts should be preserved. It has led them to allow demolition of many historic houses, other buildings that house low- and middle-income tenants, and in many cases replaced them with tall buildings that are out-of-content with their neighborhoods such as the South End that such tenants cannot afford.
Most evident in the South End, which comprises Stamford’s first and largest historic district. Although the city stated the South End historic district should remain and buildings be reused, the lack of both incentives and deterrents to prevent demolition has resulted in the loss of many buildings that could have been renovated and “adaptively” reused. Instead, development has permanently changed the historic character of the neighborhood, despite explicit statements in city plans that say it should be maintained.
Historic neighborhood preservation
Members
RENÉE KAHN
FOUNDER
Renee Kahn arrived in Stamford in the late 1950s just as the Urban Renewal program began a wholesale destruction of its inner city. With her background in art history – she taught at the local campus of the University of Connecticut for over 20 years – she established and ran the Historic Neighborhood Program from late 1970s until 2018. During that time the organization conducted surveys of several thousand older structures in Stamford and other Connecticut communities. Under the auspices of the HNP and the Stamford Community Development Program, hundreds of older buildings were saved and rehabilitated. She is currently retired to her art studio in North Stamford. Her classic study of the American front porch, “Preserving Porches” is still available through Amazon and remains the definitive text on the subject.
JUDY NORINSKY
PRESIDENT
Judy Norinsky is one of our newest board members. She moved to Stamford a little over a year ago and is in the process of restoring her 73 year old home in North Stamford. She has written about land use, historic preservation and urban affairs for various community newspapers, as well as, worked in community affairs in New York City. Judy holds two Master degrees, one in Political Science from CUNY and the other in Historic Preservation from Pratt Institute.
MARK DIAMOND
VICE PRESIDENT
Mark is a trial and appellate litigator in courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, Connecticut Supreme Court and N.Y. Court of Appeals. He is a neutral arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association and served on the Southwestern Regional Planning Agency, Stamford Economic Development Commission and Stamford Environmental Protection Board.
DAVE DEVIN
TREASURER
Dave is a Certified Public Accountant in both Connecticut and New York since 1995. He is the owner of Strictly Accounting CPA and an antique home where he enjoys restoring and revisiting its rich history. Dave is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University in Political Science & Economics, as well as, University of the State of New York Regent’s college for Accounting.
MARSHALL MILLSAP
DIRECTOR
Marshall is a past President and Treasurer of HNP, as well as, a former Chairman of the Stamford History Center. He lived in two historic Stamford houses for over 35 years before moving to a vintage rowhouse in Washington, DC, where he coaches negotiation. He has degrees from Princeton University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington and Bologna.
DIANNE WALKER
MEMBER
Dianne is a Stamford resident and is passionate about the city, all things past and present. Professionally, she is an Executive Assistant, currently working for a global financial markets infrastructure and data company. Her residence is in a 1939 pre-war building, where she’s served on the association’s Board and is a member of their garden committee. Dianne has an A.S. degree in Business, is Co-Founder and VP of the Strawberry Hill Neighborhood Association, and is a State of CT Notary Public.
EMILY DERR
MEMBER
Emily Derr is production and client services manager for NAGI Jewelers in Stamford. She is also founder of a consulting business that helps artists and galleries form strategic community partnerships. She received her degree in fashion design from Syracuse University, an MBA from DeVry University, and has studied gemology at the Gemological Institute of America. Born in Michigan, Emily is committed to improving her community and to fostering creativity. She currently serves as Deputy Vice Chairwoman on the board at the Stamford History Center and is an artist member of the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. Emily is an avid yogi, loves barre classes, drawing and painting.
SUE HALPERN
MEMBER
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65 High Ridge STE 368, Stamford, CT 06905