[V&L]

So, as part of my quest to find acceptable locations for a job in terms of commute from Madison where I am buying a house, I drove to CT from Princeton this weekend, left the kids with their father since he was happy to have an extra day with them, as it turned out - and drove various routes to various towns and cities from Madison. I checked out Trumbull, Orange, West Haven, North Haven, Newington, and Hartford. The driving experience was very educational indeed, but what stayed with me most from my trip is the stunning, entirely unexpected architectural beauty of Hartford. I have lived in some architecturally beautiful cities in my life (Budapest, Vienna, Florence, London, San Francisco, Philly, Manhattan), and I was trained in Art before I was trained in psychology, so I am not easily awed by design at all (and of course, one expects Florence to be amazing much more so than Hartford). Still, I drove around a mostly soulless Sunday early morning Hartford in the kind of silent, still, and deeply moved state I usually feel when I encounter real beauty. While Hartford clearly is a struggling city with crime and poverty issues (I could see that on the faces of the few people I have seen on the street that morning), it is also a gorgeous place and I wish more could be done to preserve it and assist it.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by V&L

So, as part of my quest to find acceptable locations for a job in terms of commute from Madison where I am buying a house, I drove to CT from Princeton this weekend, left the kids with their father since he was happy to have an extra day with them, as it turned out - and drove various routes to various towns and cities from Madison. I checked out Trumbull, Orange, West Haven, North Haven, Newington, and Hartford. The driving experience was very educational indeed, but what stayed with me most from my trip is the stunning, entirely unexpected architectural beauty of Hartford. I have lived in some architecturally beautiful cities in my life (Budapest, Vienna, Florence, London, San Francisco, Philly, Manhattan), and I was trained in Art before I was trained in psychology, so I am not easily awed by design at all (and of course, one expects Florence to be amazing much more so than Hartford). Still, I drove around a mostly soulless Sunday early morning Hartford in the kind of silent, still, and deeply moved state I usually feel when I encounter real beauty. While Hartford clearly is a struggling city with crime and poverty issues (I could see that on the faces of the few people I have seen on the street that morning), it is also a gorgeous place and I wish more could be done to preserve it and assist it.

Behind those shiny Hartford skyscpapers there danger

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Behind those shiny Hartford skyscpapers there danger

I don't think she meant the skyscrapers like Cityplace and Travelers tower, but I could be wrong?

There are some beautiful older homes in the west end of Hartford and running into the area in West Hartford around the University of Hartford.

[V&L]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

I don't think she meant the skyscrapers like Cityplace and Travelers tower, but I could be wrong?

There are some beautiful older homes in the west end of Hartford and running into the area in West Hartford around the University of Hartford.

Yes, I meant the older buildings, up the early 20th century .

[HumpDay]

Originally Posted by V&L

Yes, I meant the older buildings, up the early 20th century .

The Travelers Tower is a beautiful building. It's going to be 100 years old in 2019. Not many cities have skyscrapers THAT old. Hartford lost a lot of historical buildings in the 70's and 80's and instead replaced them with modern skyscrapers. There were many proposals in the 80's and 90's to build much taller buildings than the ones you see in downtown right now. The Cutter Financial Center was a proposed 878 ft tower that was going to be built on the lot on the corner of Jewell and Ann Uccello Street. Buildings were demolished to make way for the tower and then the developer called it quits because of the small recession in the early 90's. The building was 2 months from groundbreaking. That lot is still vacant and it's a parking lot. Unfortunately this isn't the only vacant lot in the city that was suppose to be a skyscraper. On the corner of Asylum and Main there was a 750 ft tower that was proposed on the lot where the old Aetna Life Building (I think) once stood. Again they demolished it to make way for the tower and it fell through.

I think Hartford would be better off if Interstate 84 didn't plow right through the heart of the city. Many old beautiful buildings were demolished and planners at the time didn't realize how destructive this would be for Hartford. It divided neighborhoods and it's over capacity. It was built to hold 50,000 cars and now it's upwards of 175,000 cars a day. Now we have to replace it because it's falling apart and that's going to cost billions. If I was a planner in the 60's I would have put Interstate 84 just south of Hartford and connect it to Route 5 in Wethersfield which then leads you to the Charter Oak Bridge. A highway similar to Whitehead Highway would then lead you from Route 5 and into downtown Hartford.

Highways divided cities all across the country. It hurt Providence, Milwaukee, etc. Cities like Milwaukee actually demolished parts of their highway and cities like Providence moved parts of their highway to clear up more land for future development. It'll be really difficult for Hartford to replace what they have because without a bypass around Hartford, where would all the traffic go?

[HumpDay]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Behind those shiny Hartford skyscpapers there danger

No...just no. I've lived here for over 40 years and I have had no issues. It's not bad at all. It's just one section of the city that's plagued with poverty and violence. The rest of the city is livable. Like any other major city you need to have common sense and don't get involved with other people's business when you know it'll lead you to trouble.

[MikefromCT]

Originally Posted by HumpDay

I think Hartford would be better off if Interstate 84 didn't plow right through the heart of the city. Many old beautiful buildings were demolished and planners at the time didn't realize how destructive this would be for Hartford. It divided neighborhoods and it's over capacity. It was built to hold 50,000 cars and now it's upwards of 175,000 cars a day. Now we have to replace it because it's falling apart and that's going to cost billions. If I was a planner in the 60's I would have put Interstate 84 just south of Hartford and connect it to Route 5 in Wethersfield which then leads you to the Charter Oak Bridge. A highway similar to Whitehead Highway would then lead you from Route 5 and into downtown Hartford.

Highways divided cities all across the country. It hurt Providence, Milwaukee, etc. Cities like Milwaukee actually demolished parts of their highway and cities like Providence moved parts of their highway to clear up more land for future development. It'll be really Hartford to replace what they have because without a bypass around Hartford, where would all the traffic go?

Hartford got destroyed by having 84 carved through it. Before the highway, it was a place for people and businesses. After the construction, it became a place for cars. And you're right that it permanently impacted neighborhoods there as it did elsewhere in other cities. Albany Avenue used to be a walkable center for commerce and was bustling with people. Now it's frightening. It was made frightening by the absence of people (and later by the race riots that hit that area hard). Same thing happened in Brooklyn's Sunset Park area when they replaced the 3rd Avenue subway with the Gowanus Parkway.

If it were an affordable and practical measure, other cities should follow Boston's example and bury the highway. Now before anyone criticizes this, consider what the city looked like previously, and how it is now in the aftermath. Two totally different worlds, and decidedly better now. Boston's North End has been re-connected to the rest of the city, there's now a walkable promenade that's bustling with activity, and the city is better than ever.

Now contrast that with the Hartford of today, and it's completely obvious that it's a relic of '60s "urban renewal" projects of highways and high-rises, when gas was cheap, people were buying new cars every 2 years, the suburban shift was in full swing, and everybody was off to "see the USA in the Cheverolet."

[HumpDay]

Originally Posted by MikefromCT

Hartford got destroyed by having 84 carved through it. Before the highway, it was a place for people and businesses. After the construction, it became a place for cars. And you're right that it permanently impacted neighborhoods there as it did elsewhere in other cities. Albany Avenue used to be a walkable center for commerce and was bustling with people. Now it's frightening. It was made frightening by the absence of people (and later by the race riots that hit that area hard). Same thing happened in Brooklyn's Sunset Park area when they replaced the 3rd Avenue subway with the Gowanus Parkway.

If it were an affordable and practical measure, other cities should follow Boston's example and bury the highway. Now before anyone criticizes this, consider what the city looked like previously, and how it is now in the aftermath. Two totally different worlds, and decidedly better now. Boston's North End has been re-connected to the rest of the city, there's now a walkable promenade that's bustling with activity, and the city is better than ever.

Now contrast that with the Hartford of today, and it's completely obvious that it's a relic of '60s "urban renewal" projects of highways and high-rises, when gas was cheap, people were buying new cars every 2 years, the suburban shift was in full swing, and everybody was off to "see the USA in the Cheverolet."

If CT had the money I'd bury it but since we're having financial difficulties I don't know how we're going to afford a project in the billions.

The 60's renewal projects had national recognition and were a big deal. Now they're aging and the city nor the state has the money to renovate and upgrade them to today's standards.

[NewJeffCT]

agree that 84 killed the city.

I remember the Cutter Financial Center as well - was going to be the tallest building in New England. The early 90s recession wasn't little, though. It was called "The Great Recession" before the 2007-2008 recession was named that. The subsequent slow recovery led to the ouster of George H.W. Bush.

There was a pretty big downturn in real estate that forever affected companies like Aetna and Travelers - because of bad real estate investments, Aetna sold their Property & Casualty business to Travelers to get more cash. Aetna then used that cash to buy US Healthcare and became more focused on health insurance - they also eventually moved away from individual life insurance as well.

[MFinkLoans]

Hartford does have a ton of beauty - it's too bad its such a troubled city and I don't think the 'yard goats' are going to do anything to help it. Bring back the Whalers (ha!). I remember spending a lot of time in Hartford when I was a kid and it was thriving - well much more than it has in recent years. Whalers games, husky games, wwf, g.fox, sage allen - all great memories from when I was a kid.

By the way - what did you think of Trumbull when you looked? It's a great town! I lived there for a year and wanted to buy there but we were unable to find what we wanted so ended up next door in Monroe (another great town!).