A Capitol idea for a website

The State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission has been around since 1973, but it only recently launched a website, at www.cga.ct.gov/cprc. The site is a beauty, with a nice history of the state Capitol and grounds, great photos, and lots of information on current projects.

The Capitol underwent a massive restoration between 1978 and 1988, but preservation of a historic landmark is never finished, especially when it comes to such a prominent -- and still-heavily-used -- symbol of Connecticut history. The current projects include a "Green Capitols" effort to keep rainwater from running off into the already-overburdened city sewer system by installing rain gardens, rain harvesting systems, and new walkways that allow the water to filter into the ground. Then there's the effort to replace the 1878 bronze Genius figure, which sat atop the Capitol dome until it was damaged in the 1938 hurricane and finally was melted down for ammunition and machine parts in World War II. A new bronze casting, made with laser measurements of the original plaster model, is complete but can't be hoisted to the dome until $200,000 is found for the operation. For now, it's on display in the Capitol lobby, along with the plaster model.

Congratulations to the state legislature's Information Technology Services staff for building a site that's sure to  raise the profile of a great landmark.

Some good preservation news, for a change

Hartford Courant columnist Helen Ubiñas reports today that a fund has been set up to save what's left of the Lyric Theater, at the corner of Broad and Park streets.

The Broad Street side of the vacant building was demolished in March. The city had declared it in imminent danger of collapsing; whether the city had done everything it could to prevent the building from deteriorating to the point of collapse is very much open to debate.

Now, to avoid creating a gaping hole in the storefronts along Park Street, there's a movement to salvage the Park Street section of the Lyric. Ubiñas credits Edison Silva of the city's Licenses and Inspections Department with suggesting the fund and Councilman Luis Cotto with helping to set it up.

Donation checks should be made out to "City of Hartford," with "Lyric Theater Fund" written in the memo line, and sent to 550 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103.

By the way, September 1 marks the 87th anniversary of the Lyric's grand opening. An article published in the September 3, 1923 edition of the Courant, a few days after the opening, noted that Mayor Richard Kinsella, a host of other politicians, and a seven-piece orchestra had been on hand for the event, just the latest in "the rapidly developing Park Street section." The bill included a newsreel, the Wallace Beery movie "Bavu," and Irish tenor John O'Malley, "who captivated the audience with his lilting Irish folk songs." (In those days, it was common for theaters to present a combination of movies and live entertainment.)

"The theater appeared in gala array," the Courant noted, "from the spacious lobby of Italian marble to the attractive stage, resplendent with pleasing blue draperies. Little wall lights made for an atmosphere of coziness, and baskets of flowers throughout the house added to the inviting interior." All of the seats were upholstered in leather, and the lobby included a "confectionery store," complete with "a well-appointed soda fountain." It was also noted that the theater "employs only girl ushers, neatly dressed in blue uniforms."

The theater's architect was Edward T. Wiley. It was owned by Park Street Development Company, a partnership led by Joseph Dolgin and A.M. Schuman, two young men who had gone into business together after serving in World War 1. As the '20s went on, they became hugely successful, acquiring four more theaters: the Lenox on Albany Avenue, the Rialto on Franklin Avenue, the Colonial on Farmington Avenue, and the Central on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford. In 1930, they leased the entire chain to Warner Brothers. The Courant reported at the time that Warner paid $2 million for the deal -- a whopping sum as the country plunged into the Great Depression.

Norwich Hospital is another lesson in historic preservation; will we learn this time?

The deterioration of the century-old Norwich Hospital campus, so well documented in Ed Mahony's news story in Sunday's Hartford Courant and amplified in an accompanying opinion piece by Tom Condon, is a devastating lesson on what can go wrong when a government – in this case, the state of Connecticut – ignores or skimps on the preservation of its historic properties.

For those of us in Hartford, it's a bit of déjà vu, since we just endured the destruction of the remaining walls of the historic Second North School on High Street, which had deteriorated while the city and its contractor dithered on incorporating them into a new public safety complex on the site. (For more on that, see preservationist Bill Hosley's May 9 op-ed piece, also in the Courant.)

When it comes to state buildings, Condon calls on the legislature to create a protocol for maintaining the ones that are historic but not in use at the moment. ''Let's start with the premise that when the state builds a building, it takes responsibility for the structure from cradle to grave, groundbreaking to cleanup," he writes. But here's his most important point:

The key to saving historic buildings is to use them. Time is of the essence. If a building is judged surplus, and no other agency wants it, don't wait for it to be closed, get started. Assess the environmental situation and start the remediation.

Amen.

Preservation grants for three Hartford locations

Organizations operating in three historic buildings in Hartford will receive grants that will help them to preserve the buildings while also improving their energy efficiency, according to state Senator John W. Fonfara of Hartford.

The grants, funded by the state General Assembly, the Connecticut Humanities Council, and the state Commission on Culture and Tourism, will go to:

• The Hispanic Health Council, which will receive $16,600 for the design of an energy- efficient heating and cooling system for its historic Main Street building, a contributing resource in the South Green National Register District.
  
  
• The Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery, which has been awarded $8,000 to conduct an assessment of the Charles B. Haskel House, one of a cluster of lots developed by Mrs. Samuel Colt between 1880 and 1900 along Wethersfield Avenue. The project seeks to preserve the historic attributes of the building while improving building efficiency and conserving energy.
  
  
• Immaculate Conception Shelter & Housing Corporation, which has been awarded $19,695 to draw up architectural plans and seek community input on an appropriate reuse of the former Immaculate Conception Church, an 1894 gothic revival design by Michael O’ Donohue in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.

“These initiatives will help keep history alive and relevant here in Hartford,” said Senator Fonfara. “All three grants will put people to work restoring historic buildings, and help these older structures to remain in use, environmentally friendly and productive in the city of today.” Full press release