One Landscape, Two Kinds of Leadership

The Guilford Preservation Association (GPA) has provided strong leadership on traditional architectural preservation for many years, supporting the establishment of the town center local Historic District, four National Register Districts, and the sponsorship of the 1986 Master Plan for Preservation and Scenic Conservation, updated in 1995.(14) This plan won an award as a model for Connecticut. In Guilford, architectural preservation has energized citizens to appreciate and protect historic buildings, to study their styles, to honor their fine details and materials, to develop sophisticated plans for reuse. The town has preserved an excellent building stock: saltboxes and colonials made to last, with massive central chimneys, double doors and twelve-over-twelve-windows, often accompanied by old barns and sheds, perennial gardens, and mature trees. For decades the focus was on architecture. Now, colonial architecture buffs in the GPA can use cultural landscape history to extend their expertise about buildings and historic districts. They are engaging with the entire town in a quest for tougher zoning and better quality economic development, and better design as ways of protecting the integrity of what has already been saved, especially in the town center.

The town also has strong environmental leadership, with groups such as the Conservation Commission and the Guilford Land Conservation Trust (GLCT) committed to assessing and protecting natural landscapes. In 1999, Guilford won an award for the best Conservation Commission in Connecticut. The Conservation Commission has led the way with developing the town's GIS system, and has worked hard to acquire lands for open space, especially in the northern part of town, and to defend wetlands. A cultural landscape approach suggests environmentalists extend their expertise on the natural environment to engage the built environment, since pressures to build badly in the denser parts of town affect their overall goals for protected natural landscapes and wildlife habitats. Better road and tract design can increase access to open space areas that are already protected, and those that may be added.

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