Named for the longtime chair of the Connecticut Historical Commission and a founder of Preservation Connecticut, the award honors outstanding contributions to the preservation and revitalization of Connecticut’s historic places. The State Historic Preservation Office and Preservation Connecticut are honored to present the Harlan H. Griswold Award to Lee G. Kuckro and Anne Crofoot Kuckro (being awarded posthumously) of Wethersfield.
Their story began in 1968 when they bought the 18th-century house. It had suffered over the years but, as Anne said, it had good bones. Over the years, they carefully dug into the Building’s history and into its Structure, stripping paint from the brick, recreating lost features, and constructing additions that gracefully blend tradition with modern living.
Almost immediately they joined the Wethersfield Historical Society. Lee was elected to the board and then as president, a position he accepted only if the all-volunteer organization hired an executive director. To fund the position, Anne suggested a house tour—not just any tour but one based on solid historical research. She proceeded to organize it, and many others that followed. Later, she too joined the board, serving as secretary and president. When the society renovated an historic school as the Keeney Cultural Center, Anne was clerk of the works, coordinating contractors, architects, and others. In the center’s education room, she created a timeline of more than 350 years of Wethersfield architecture illustrated with silhouettes of local buildings.
Anne’s studies in local history and architecture produced articles and books, beginning with Capt. James Francis Master Builder: Brick Architecture in Wethersfield before 1840, published in 1974. Her crowning work, an unfinished manuscript about the history and architecture of Wethersfield’s Historic District is currently being completed for publication by Wesleyan University Press. In the meantime, Lee edited material from the manuscript to create Preservation in Action, published last year. It recounts the histories of ten buildings and how the historic District aided their preservation.
The Old Wethersfield historic district has been central to the Kuckros’ preservation work. Lee served on the historic district commission for twenty years, and as chair for fourteen. It is Connecticut’s biggest local district and one of its oldest, and many issues have arisen there before they surfaced in other places. This inspired Lee, along with State Historic Preservation Officer John W. Shannahan and commissioners from Litchfield and Farmington, to found the Association of Historic District Commissioners, so commissioners from across the state could share experiences and advice. Lee also was a member of the Governor’s task force that paved the way to reduce the voting requirement for local historic districts from three-quarters to two-thirds of property owners.
Anne supported the historic district commission by ensuring that surveys remained updated, procuring funds for updates, and providing up-to-date information on buildings as needed. Lee points to the Wethersfield historic district as evidence that preservation can foster livable communities for a wide variety of people.
As part of her commitment to sharing Wethersfield’s history, Anne also worked with local educators to develop elementary and high school curricula on Wethersfield architecture and taught a continuing education class on the town’s buildings. Beyond Wethersfield, she worked in the 1970s as Director of the Hartford Architecture Conservancy’s survey of the City of Hartford, producing as her second book Hartford Architecture, Volume One: Downtown.
In 1997, after the Hartford Architecture Conservancy failed, Lee was a leader in founding the Hartford Preservation Alliance — a name chosen as a reminder that Hartford’s vitality is important to other communities, too. He remained on HPA’s board for twelve years, completing three terms as president.
In addition to the historic district task force, Lee promoted preservation statewide as a trustee and chairman of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation (now Preservation Connecticut). Under his leadership, the organization reduced its debt and launched the Circuit Rider program, which brings preservation professionals into communities directly.
At another statewide organization, Connecticut Landmarks (formerly the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society), Lee again served as a trustee and president. He urged stewardship of the Society’s Forge Farm and chaired the Palmer-Warner House Committee, which laid the groundwork for repairs and reinterpretation of the home of pioneering Restoration architect Frederic Palmer and his partner, Howard Metzger.
To these and many other accomplishments, Lee, an attorney, brought his attention to detail and analytical thinking, while Anne brought an artist’s eye for design and her careful scholarship.