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Abstract
The Connecticut General Statutes in Section 7-1^7a authorize any municipality to establish an historic district or districts within its boundaries to "promote the educational, cultural, economic and general welfare of the public through the preservation and protection of buildings, places and districts of historic interest by the maintenance of such as landmarks in the history of architecture, of the municipality, of the state or of the nation, and through the development of appropriate settings for such buildings, places and districts " Although the development of appropriate settings is mentioned in this statute, no mention is made of preserving or protecting the existing environments - the spaces between historic buildings within a district, which, as a part of a visual unit with the historic building or district, maintain the visual coherence of the area.
It was for this reason -that I wanted to conduct research into the problems that have arisen in establishing and maintaining historic districts within Connecticut - problems that were due to inadequate or non-existent protection for the environments between, or adjacent to, historic buildings. My hypothesis was that weaknesses existed in the Connecticut legislation which led to problems of this nature, and that these problems might be avoided in the future, if Connecticut's Historic District legislation were strengthened.
After concluding a detailed review of existing literature on historic districts and their protection and preservation, I wanted to study operating historic districts I chose six Connecticut Historic District Commissions - Mansfield, Durham, Enfield, Wethersfield, Norwich and New Haven, which represents a cross section of rural, suburban and urban historic districts.
