Waterford — Barbara Christen, an expert on the work of architect Cass Gilbert, emailed a letter Feb. 5 to members of the planning and architectural firm Sasaki Associates, as well as local and state officials, urging preservation of Gilbert-designed buildings at the site of the former Seaside Regional Center.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced in September that Seaside, located off Shore Road, would become a state park. Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, recently submitted a bill that would require the state to hold a public hearing in any town where a new state park is proposed. The bill is slated for public hearing Friday in Hartford.

Seaside was founded in the 1930s as a tuberculosis sanatorium for children before it became a center for the developmentally disabled, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two of the four historical buildings remaining at Seaside - the Stephen J. Maher Infirmary and the Nurses' Residence, the letter states - were designed by Gilbert, architect of the U.S. Supreme Court building and other national landmarks.

Christen's letter, addressed to Sasaki principal Jason Hellendrung and associate Allen Penniman, states that Seaside "represents the culmination of Gilbert's illustrious and wide-ranging architectural career."

Sasaki has been charged by the state with developing a master plan for the proposed park and has been coordinating with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to hold public meetings in Waterford pertaining to the plan.

"For years, Seaside has existed under the radar. Compared to the high profiles of Gilbert's Minnesota State Capitol (1895-1905), Woolworth Building (1910-1913), and United States Supreme Court (1928-1935), among other well-known projects - most of which are located in highly populated areas - Seaside is an undersung monument in the town of Waterford and in the state at large," states the letter from Christen, who is working on contract as acting senior editor for the National Gallery of Art and gives specialized architectural history tours of the Woolworth Building as a separate job.

"Seaside provides a touchstone for the history of twentieth-century public health; its Infirmary is one of only three buildings remaining in the state from the era before antibiotics were available to treat tuberculosis effectively. The other remaining sanitoria, Uncas-on-Thames in Norwich and Cedarcrest in Hartford, were built 20 years before Gilbert's project at Waterford and are not associatedwith nationally acclaimed designers," the letter continues.

In addition to Christen, the letter is signed by 15 people whom Christen refers to in the letter as "a group of informed citizens from across the country with specialized backgrounds in American architectural history, historic preservation, real estate and development, hospital architecture and public advocacy."

These include Gilbert descendants Helen Post Curry, great-granddaughter of Gilbert and administrator of Woolworth Building tours, of New Canaan; and Gilbert's great-grandson, real estate developer Chuck Post, of San Francisco.

Copied on the email are Formica; state Rep. Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford; Democratic U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both of Connecticut; U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District; Waterford Director of Planning and Development Dennis Goderre; Waterford First Selectman Daniel Steward; and others.

Penniman replied to the letter by saying he was copying state employees and consultants engaged in the work to make them aware of the letter.

Hellendrung wrote in an email to The Day that Christen's comments were better directed to the state. He wrote that while Sasaki is facilitating the process of creating a master plan for the proposed state park, dealing with the buildings "will ultimately be a State decision."

Formica said in a phone interview Monday that he thought the letter "speaks to the heart of what the intent of the bill was."

"There are questions when these things are put forward that need to be answered," he said.

He replied to the letter by thanking Christen for providing a "very informative background on the Seaside buildings."

The letter emphasizes that Gilbert adopted Connecticut as his home state, noting that the architect is buried in Ridgefield.

"Both the Infirmary and the Nurses' Building are too important to lose. These historic and cultural resources represent key moments in American architectural and regional history. If demolished, they could never be replaced. Please recommend to the state the high priority of saving these buildings and adaptively reusing them as DEEP pursues its plans," the letter concludes.

t.townsend@theday.com

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