Stewardship

We can secure your preservation legacy with our easement program.

Preservation Connecticut can help you protect your preservation legacy by arranging for a conservation or preservation restriction (commonly called an “easement”) on your historic property.  An easement is a legal agreement that grants a limited right to an organization, like Preservation Connecticut, to protect the property from changes that are not in keeping with its historic, architectural, or natural character.  By granting an easement, the property owner does not give ownership, control, or use of the property or the right to sell, donate or bequeath the property. The easement is usually given in perpetuity, meaning that it stays with the property through successive owners.  Financial benefits may be available.

Our staff has 25 years of experience in tailoring easements to ensure long-term stewardship of historic properties. We hold easements on 40 historic properties totaling 89 acres in Connecticut, ranging from Art Deco office buildings in New Haven to Federal-era farmsteads in Ashford. Each easement requires an annual inspection of the property and binds Preservation Connecticut to review proposed changes to protected features and to seek remedies for incompatible alterations.