News & Events
Guilford Preservation Alliance Working to Save Guilford Depot
The Guilford Preservation Alliance has launched a community-wide campaign
to restore two historic buildings associated with the old Guilford train
depot. The matching brick structures, an 1870's-vintage engine house and
a rare octagonal water tower, are among the most significant railroad-industry
related buildings extant in Connecticut and maybe in New England . Both
are listed on the National Register as contributing resources within Guilford
's Town Center Historic District.
The GPA wishes to stabilize and preserve these unique buildings for adaptive reuse as office, retail, or community space. The GPA has received the support of the First Selectmen, the Economic Development Commission, the Historic District Commission, and Town Center South Committee. The GPA's Board of Directors has made an initial commitment of $10,000 to pay for predevelopment activities. In addition, the GPA is undertaking a capital campaign to secure the funds needed for the immediate stabilization of the two buildings, both of which are open to the elements and in need of urgent repairs to halt further deterioration.
To manage the project, the GPA has engaged the firm of Noyes/Vogt Architects of Guilford, a firm with extensive experience in the field of historic preservation. A real estate market study will also be carried out by AMS Advisory Services of Bridgeport to determine economically viable uses for the property consistent with the character of the surrounding neighborhood and the architectural integrity of the structures.
A task force of engineers, lawyers, marketing and development specialists,
and other professionals has been assembled to carry out the project under
the direction of GPA President Preston Maynard. Currently, negotiations
are under way with Amtrak to lease or purchase the property. Architectural
specifications and cost estimates are being developed for the initial
stabilization.
The GPA believes that the Guilford Depot project will serve as the catalyst for a much larger planning effort of crucial importance to the town's future growth. The depot is centrally located between the historic Guilford Green and the town marina in an area poised for more new commercial and residential development. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has recently erected a handsome "up-and-over" commuter rail station on a site adjacent to the historic depot structures. Expanded parking will be provided on property recently acquired by the town on the north side of the tracks. An array of other improvements either planned or already under way, including a walkway linking the Green to the train station and marina.
Founded in 1980, the Guilford Preservation Alliance has a long track record of helping to preserve and protect Guilford 's built and natural heritage. Among its many accomplishments are the creation of a revolving-loan fund for historic preservation and the drafting of Guilford 's newly enacted delay-of-demolition ordinance. For more information about the train station project, please contact us.
Demolition-Delay Ordinance Passes, Crowning Years-Long Effort by GPA
On August 1 the Board of Selectmen unanimously adopted a draft Delay of Demolition Ordinance extending to some 450 Guilford structures the qualified protection against teardowns enjoyed by buildings in the town's Historic District.
Researched and drafted by Marjorie Noyes, chair of the GPA's Education Committee, and revised by her in concert with Buildings Inspector George Gdovin and Town Historian Joel Helander, the legislation provides for a delay of up to 90 days for discussion of alternatives to demolition following public notice of plans to substantially alter or tear down.
The Ordinance will impose a 30-day moratorium on demolition of any buildings "listed in the Guilford Preservation Alliance Survey of Historic Architecture, updated by qualified persons without discrimination annually on September 1." If after that waiting period there is no opposition, a demolition permit will be issued by the Town. If there is written opposition, the waiting period is automatically extended to 90 days, at the end of which the owner may reject alternative solutions and proceed with demolition.
Ms Noyes, who died this spring after a long illness, completed the basic draft last August after studying the content and public reception of similar ordinances in a number of Connecticut towns. She submitted the draft to First Selectman Gene Bishop at that time with a letter stating, "Tear downs of buildings have increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Guilford's historic structures are a significant part of the town's cultural, social and economic character. They encourage tourism and make an important contribution to the town's prosperity."
Ms Noyes was posthumously honored at the Annual Meeting in May when a fund was named for her in recognition of her outstanding work. The fund will be devoted to education and advocacy.
Education Committee Continues Survey of Significant Historic Buildings
The Education Committee, which was established for the purpose of making additions to the 1980-81 GPA Survey of Significant Historic Buildings, was chaired by Marje Noyes until her death earlier this year. Marje successfully applied for a small grant from the Connecticut Trust, a grant that allows the committee to make use of the services of a professional consultant, James Sexton.
One of the aims of the committee is to add to the Survey modernist houses built in the 1950s and 1960s. Another focus is on vernacular structures, including barns, which were omitted from the earlier Survey for one reason or another. Additions will also be made of some buildings in the area of the Green. Finally, several structures in North Guilford will be included.
Although the Survey is the committee's official mission, they have also been attentive to interesting by-products of their survey work. For example, they have gathered (by interview as well as by library research) information about the history of the Old Quarry Association and its modernist homes. The hope is that eventually GPA publications in social history will draw on this research.
The committee plans to finish its work on the survey by April, 2006. Members of the committee are; Peter Hare (chair), Penny Colby, Sandra Flatow, Jean Kelley, Preston Maynard, Sarah McCulloch, Walter Weissenborn and Jonathan Wuerth.
GPA Spurs Plan for Town Center South
The Guilford Preservation Alliance sponsored a three-part public forum to jump start community interest in and support for historic preservation and environmentally sound development of Town Center South, the area from the town green south to the marina.
The GPA retained the Yale Urban Design Workshop for a brainstorming session as to develop professional and citizen proposals for the area. The first session, in May, 2004, featured a presentation by Alan Plattus, professor at the Yale School of Architecture and founding director of the Yale Urban Design Workshop, entitled "Transit-Oriented Development with Emphasis on the Guilford Train Station." He told some 200 citizens that development should take full advantage of the rail link to other towns along the Connecticut shore and to New York City. And he emphasized the importance of improving pedestrian traffic between the green, the station and the marina.
In June, the GPA held a four-hour community design workshop in which citizens participated with assistance from Yale Workshop personnel. It yielded a wealth of proposals. Among them were:
Plans for new pedestrian paths and bikeways to link existing green spaces, including the former Rollwood Farm across Stone House Lane from the historic Whitfield Museum.
Increased tourist facilities in the train station neighborhood.
Provision of easier pedestrian access to the town's center and historic district.
Development strategies to open up vistas over water and wetlands.
Screening and locating commuter parking away from Rollwood Farm.
In the final workshop, Professor Plattus presented a synthesis of the ideas generated by both professionals and private citizens. He focused on redevelopment of the area immediately around the train station, and his presentation envisioned medium-density, small-scale, mixed-use residential and commercial development to serve the needs of increased rail-passenger traffic. Implicit in the design was a requirement that the entire Town Center South neighborhood be rezoned to reflect increased commercial and residential uses and environmental concerns, updating 50-year-old zoning regulations.
Meanwhile, the Boar of Selectmen established the Town Center South committee
under the chairmanship of Sidney F. Gale to begin shaping the future
of the area between the East and West Rivers south of Route 146 to the
marina. GPA board member Valerie Brown is representing the GPA on the
committee.
The chairmanship has since been passed to Dennis Dostert.