Archive for the 'Architecture' Category
Downtown Sights and Sites
There is a lot going on in Downtown Hartford these days. Here are just a few of the activities and projects currently scheduled and underway.
The PGA Tour comes to Greater Hartford in a couple weeks for the Travelers Championship. One fantastic way to get involved is to check out the Tee It Up for Charity event on Thursday the 24th. It’s basically a big party with live music, a silent auction, and a mini-tournament on the practice facility. All money raised goes to The First Tee Connecticut.
Abul Islam and AI Engineers is building a green office building at the site of the former Broadcast House on Constitution Plaza, to be called the AI Tech Center. At this point the old building has come down, and they are reported to be looking for tenants in order to secure construction financing. Interested in meeting and talking with Mr. Islam? Sign up for the HYPE Entrepreneur Success Stories event on June 22nd in which he is the featured guest.
Front Street continues to plug along, though leasing is lagging construction. They have the exteriors of the buildings in good shape and the sidewalks down. Who will sign up to be the first tenants?
Finally, the Wadsworth Atheneum is undergoing some renovations, which includes some work on the roof.
Demolition in Detroit
Friday’s Wall Street Journal article about the demolition of historic homes in Detroit came at an interesting time. The previous evening we had attended the Hartford Preservation Alliance awards event, a gathering to celebrate the architectural history of our city and the efforts of community members to restore and reuse buildings rather than knock them down.
Detroit has a rich architectural history, as can be seen on sites like Forgotten Detroit and Detroit1701.org. Some of the historical homes are currently in use, and in good condition, while others appear to be abandoned. The city has lost a substantial number of residents over the past 50 years and there are apparently blocks with few inhabited houses. A piece on the Land+Living site from 2006 shows some images of Detroit’s residential landscape.
The WSJ article raises an important question that we face here in Hartford too … how much should we preserve? Is preserving the exterior sufficient? Is bulldozing ever the right thing to do?
Houses are large, and they’re expensive to maintain. This makes preserving them much more difficult than paintings, sculptures, or other works of art. However, like a work of art, each house is often unique since it reflects the site on which it was built and may have been customized for the owner. Therefore homes are different from cars, stamps, or guns, where having one example of each “model” could be considered sufficient.
I like to think of myself as a practical, if not pragmatic, person. Houses need to be functional; otherwise they’re not going to survive. I think that older homes should evolve over time to meet the needs of modern society. They need regular maintenance, and the best way to achieve that is by continuing to serve their primary role as a shelter and an oasis from the outside world. However, in making the updates property owners have a responsibility to make changes within the spirit and character of their home. They should make historically appropriate choices as often as possible.
The larger challenge is when neighborhoods and regions evolve. This is the primary issue that Detroit faces, and is also a relevant topic in the City of Hartford. What happens when it no longer makes economic sense for homeowners to maintain and restore their property? Or a block of properties? Or an entire neighborhood?
Detroit has chosen to sacrifice some of their history in an effort to move their city forward. Without living in the area and experiencing their problems first-hand, it’s difficult to fully understand that decision. I can only imagine the intense debate that led up to the final demolition orders. Mayor Bing’s State of the City address on March 23, 2010 outlines Detroit’s major challenges and initiatives, of which the demolition program is just a small piece.
It’s always sad to see grand old homes in disrepair – you can still see their beauty shining through the years of neglect. At some point taking them down may be the only option. Hopefully here in Hartford we can continue working to protect our historic properties as we confront many of the same challenges as Detroit, just on a smaller scale.
Hartford Preservation Alliance Awards Event
The Hartford Preservation Alliance will be holding their annual Awards Event on Thursday, May 13th, at 5:30, at the Design Center in Parkville (1429 Park St, Hartford). There are 12 Awardees this year, including a number of projects that loyal readers will recognize. The event is open to all, and tickets are $25 – hope to see you there!
In addition to their annual Awards Event, the Hartford Preservation Alliance works throughout the year as an advocate for Hartford’s historic architecture and buildings. They also take on an education mission, organizing various events in the different neighborhoods. For example, tomorrow morning (May 8, 2010) at 10:00 AM they will be leading a walking tour through the Ann Street Historic District in Downtown Hartford. For a complete list of upcoming activities, visit the 2010 Calendar.
2010 Awardees
Common Ground
410 Asylum Street
“The Capitol Building”
Jan & David Klein
Kate & Christian Winkley
79 Girard Avenue
Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (NINA)
291-293 Sargeant Street
Archdiocese of Hartford
809 Asylum Avenue
“St. Joseph Cathedral School”
Hartford School Building Commission
1304 Main Street
“Barnard Brown School”
James K. Grant, P.E.
Lifetime Achievement
Connecticut Preservation Action
Preservation Advocacy
Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism
“Being Modern in Hartford”
Molly Knorr & Mark Drusedum
1144 Prospect Avenue
PMC Property Group
210 Farmington Avenue
“The Ambassador”
Ross Zachs & Mike Miller
76 North Beacon Street
Antonella Bona
139 Fern Street
Congratulations to all the awardees – and thank you for going out of your way to preserve Hartford’s historic buildings.
Maple Tree Cabinetmakers: The Josh Winkley Experience
Josh Winkley, of Maple Tree Cabinetmakers, likes the challenge of designing for a space. And as previously noted, we are design challenged. So working with Josh was critical to the kitchen turning out as well as it did.
From our point of view, the basic process was pretty painless. We told Josh the kinds of things we liked and disliked, and talked about some of our priorities and ideas for the space. He asked a number of questions that we had never considered, and a few that we didn’t really even understand. Our answer to most of the hard questions was simply, “use your best judgment.” It seemed to us that he had a much better chance of doing the right thing than we did, especially since we had seen his previous work.
Every project has its unique challenges, and this one was no exception. There were three requests in particular that felt more important to us than anything else.
1. The Butler’s Pantry: Before the project started, the butler’s pantry was an after-thought at best. A previous owner had added a door that made the space more of an intersection and entryway than the traditional passageway between the kitchen and dining room. We wanted to take it back to closer to what it used to be when the home was originally built. That was really the only direction we gave, Josh took it from there.
2. The Overall Feel: We wanted the kitchen itself to be bright and open and to have a consistent feel with the dining room and butler’s pantry. Ideas for accomplishing this were well beyond out design ability, and we knew it, so we relied on Josh to come up with a plan.
3. The Sink: Early in the process Amy and I visited the plumbing store to pick out a sink. We knew we wanted something large, and were initially thinking a farmhouse style sort of thing. Nothing in the kitchen section made much of an impression. However, there was something in the bathroom section that captured our imagination. It looked like one of the old oversized utility sinks that we sometimes see in the West End kitchens that haven’t been updated … ever. We knew we had to have it and asked Josh to figure out how to work it into the design.
Words turned into sketches, which turned into 3D computer models, which turned into cabinets that appeared in a trailer. Josh synthesized all of that information into a wonderful design that exceeded our (already high) expectations. Now that the project is complete, the site fully cleaned up, and the space back in use as a functioning kitchen, the level of planning and attention to detail is even more apparent.
The conclusion from all of this seems clear – Josh needs more, and bigger, challenges.
Here are the previous posts about our adventure:
Remodeling Our Kitchen
Budgeting for a Kitchen Remodel
Designing a Kitchen
Our Before Kitchen
Our Temporary Kitchen
A Remodeling Surprise
Our Kitchen Remodel – A Progress Update
Beefy Moldings
It’s Like Magic
Design Help Needed
Beefy Moldings
“We are running about a week ahead of schedule.” How many times have you heard that during a renovation project? I’m guessing not very many. Yet that’s how Christian Winkley of Oxford Builders began the (unsolicited) update email he sent us on Sunday morning. The kitchen project is now squarely in the putting-it-all-back-together phase and it appears that we’ll be getting back into the space sooner than anticipated. Yippee!
Today’s activity was door frames and moldings. The doors all needed new frames since they were either larger than they used to be or in new locations. The windows had moldings, but they didn’t really match with the rest of the house. One of the decisions made early on in the process was to replace the rather plain backband of the moldings with something a little more beefy. We snuck into the work site after everyone had left to check it out, and definitely noticed the difference.
All of this progress actually has Amy nervous. She’s very excited to get the kitchen back, but is concerned that we don’t have a kitchen table yet. Our initial idea was to have a built-in bench and table that had lots of storage and shelving. Unfortunately our budget didn’t match our imagination and the bench seating was the first feature cut. Instead, we’re going to be leaving that space for a free-standing table and chairs.
Amy knows that we’re not going to have a table by the time the project is done (how will we know what to get without seeing the space?). And she also knows that I’ll make us use some temporary (and wholly unacceptable) table until the real deal is selected. Her concern is that the “temporary” table solution will be there for quite a while.
And she’s probably right. After all, my timelines for home improvement/decoration projects are not nearly as reliable or efficient as Mr. Winkley’s.
Here are the previous posts about our adventure:
Remodeling Our Kitchen
Budgeting for a Kitchen Remodel
Designing a Kitchen
Our Before Kitchen
Our Temporary Kitchen
A Remodeling Surprise
Our Kitchen Remodel – A Progress Update