Panel To Discuss Historic Significance Of Fairfield Hills Buildings

The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and the Newtown Architectural Survey Committee will sponsor a roundtable discussion about the value and significance of the buildings located at Fairfield Hills on Monday evening, December 13. The discussion will be at the Newtown Meeting House at the flagpole from 7 to 9 pm.

The panel will include Alicia Leuba, senior program associate at the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Helen Higgins, executive director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation; Jan Cunningham, Cunningham Preservation Associates and the National Trust; and Dan Cruson, from the Newtown Historical Society and Newtown historian. Panel facilitator will be Mae S. Schmidle, chairman of the Newtown Architectural Survey Committee and former chairman of the Fairfield Hills Board of Trustees and former Connecticut legislator.

“There has been much discussion and many questions unanswered about the buildings at Fairfield Hills,” commented Mr Cruson, “and perhaps it is time to sit down and have a discussion with some professionals in the field of historic architecture.”

The Fairfield Hills campus includes several buildings that were constructed at the height of the 1930s Depression and several buildings that have been added since. All have an interesting history.

“The public is certainly invited,” said Mae S. Schmidle, “and it is an exciting opportunity for Newtown residents to hear from national as well as Connecticut preservationists.”