ADA Accessibility, Landscape, and Site Improvements at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

FAIN: CHA-276839-22

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center (Hartford, CT 06105-3243)
Elizabeth Giard Burgess (Project Director: May 2020 to present)

Restoration of the 1884 Katharine S. Day House and the 1873 carriage house that serves as the visitor center, to include associated landscape improvements and retrofitting for compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Funds would also support a security system upgrade, furnishings, and a fundraising consultant.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center seeks $385,416 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Capacity and Infrastructure Building Challenge Grant in support of needed ADA-compliant modifications, landscape improvements, and preservation restoration for two of its three historic buildings onsite, the Katharine S. Day House and the carriage house that serves as the Visitor Center. This project is designed to build audience; the ADA compliance work fills gaps in the participatory efforts of the Stowe Center to be as inclusive as possible for its community, particularly when it comes to accessibility. The strategic activation of the site’s landscape, along with the capital improvements and restoration to the Day House and Visitor Center, reflect the Stowe Center’s plan to offer more humanities content by opening its historic campus to interpretation and programmatic functions.