Hartford Preservation Alliance Fall Tours 2009

The old Northwest School located on Albany Avenue, photo by MiraHartford

Our blogger friends at the Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog have posted about an event I've been a big fan of: tours of our historic homes and buildings in Hartford. For a town that dates back to the 1600's, Hartford unfortunately has lost a lot of it's historic buildings which gave it the unique character it had when Samuel Clemens decided to settle down here. Thankfully, the tireless folks at The Hartford Preservation Alliance have relentlessly fought to protect the historic buildings remaining while educating residents about the history of the city. This fall, the HPA has organized four tours in four distinct neighborhoods: Ridgefield Street Historic District, The West End, The Moderns, and Fairfield Avenue. More details after the jump.

While cleaning my office the other day, I actually found a letter from the Hartford Preservation Alliance which stated, "Although Hartford was founded in 1636, Hartford has only 43 buildings standing that were built prior to 1851 - and only 4 are left from the 1700's!" This is something that truly breaks my heart as some of the more impressive buildings were torn down in the name of progress. I have to say that I'm most intrigued by The Moderns tour as it explores the modern architecture of Constitution Plaza, which razed entire neighborhoods and historic buildings for a very cold sterile environment.

Nonetheless, here is the info for the tours:

Ridgefield Street Historic District
September 12, 2009; meet at The Artists Collective parking lot, 1200 Albany Avenue

The West End
September 26, 2009; meet at the UConn Law School Sherman Street Parking Lot

The Moderns
October 3, 2009; Meet on Constitution Plaza at the Fountain, 1 Constitution Plaza

Fairfield Avenue
October 10, 2009; Meet in front of 8 Fairfield Avenue (firehouse at corner of New Britain Avenue)

For history buffs and fans of architecture, I highly recommend taking these. I've actually filmed two of these walks in past years and was blown away by the details we miss while driving past these buildings.