NR, NHL & SR Nominations
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of resources, including buildings, structures, sites, districts, and objects, which are considered worthy of preservation for their cultural significance at the national, state, and local levels. The criteria for listing in the National Register are also used by federal and state agencies as benchmarks in assessing the historic significance of cultural resources.
Our National Register nominations are known for their quality and thoroughness, and they have been used by the National Park Service in instructional seminars.
We have also written nominations for the National Historic Landmark program, which honors historic places of exceptional quality and national significance.
Our nominations include historic districts and individual buildings such as houses, churches, mills, factories, and municipal and commercial buildings; structures include dams and bridges; landscapes; archaeological properties; thematic districts of several cultural resource types; and Traditional Cultural Properties.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
Featured Project
Graniteville Historic District
Waterford, Connecticut, Graniteville has a collection of buildings and sites historically associated with granite quarrying. Nearly all of the houses in the district were home to quarry owners, stone cutters, and blacksmiths who worked the quarries in the 19th century. Granite quarrying was an important part of Waterford’s history for more than 200 years.
Other Examples
Mount Riga Iron Works
The Mount Riga Iron Works includes the remains of the oldest blast furnace in Connecticut. Located in the northwest corner of the state, a once-thriving nexus of iron manufacturers, Mount Riga produced iron for use in the American Revolution.
South Willington Historic District
The South Willington Historic District nomination documents a well-preserved thread mill complex and an eclectic mix of worker housing and community buildings. The overall design of the village is rare for its time, late in the development of Connecticut's textile industry.
Avery Point Lighthouse
The Avery Point Lighthouse in Groton is an icon of Connecticut maritime history. A local preservation group rallied to preserve it, and a National Register nomination by AHS was part of that effort.
Lebanon Green Historic District
The Lebanon Green Historic District is over a mile long, one of the few town commons in Connecticut to retain its original size and character as a large open field. AHS wrote the National Register nomination for the green and surrounding historic buildings.
National Historic Landmarks
Featured Project
Coltsville Historic District National Historic Landmark
Under contract to the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, AHS prepared the documentation for the National Historic Landmark designation of the Coltsville Historic District in Hartford. The district includes Armsmear, the mansion built by Samuel and Elizabeth Colt; firearms factory buildings from the 1850s through World War I period; 13 multi-family houses (worker tenements); Colt Park, originally laid out as grounds for Armsmear; and two architecturally distinguished memorial buildings given by Mrs. Colt: the Church of the Good Shepard and the Caldwell Colt Parish House. The Landmark nomination discusses the multi-faceted significance of the district in terms of technological and economic development, American folk culture, philanthropy, urban planning, architecture, and landscape architecture.
Other NHL Examples
U.S. Coast Guard Sailing Vessel Eagle
AHS completed a National Historic Landmark nomination for the U.S. Coast Guard’s sail-training ship, the three-masted barque Eagle. The nomination includes an exposition on the vessel’s significance during World War II (Eagle was acquired as a war prize from the German navy) and for its role in training Coast Guard officers. Sail training, part of the Coast Guard’s officer preparation since its inception in 1790, is highly valued by the Coast Guard because it offers hands-on experience in teamwork, individual initiative, and respect for the sea.
Grove Street Cemetery
AHS prepared the National Historic Landmark nomination for an extraordinary urban cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, the first chartered burial ground in the United States.