The restoration of Stratford’s Sterling Community Center has earned a 2026 Connecticut Preservation Award, recognizing preservation work that renewed the building’s historic fabric while improving safety and indoor comfort.
The 1886 Romanesque building was designed by architect Bruce Price and originally built for the Sterling family. Today, it operates as a community resource center, hosting cultural events, public programs, youth and senior activities, and services for residents in need.
Project teams balanced preservation with modern performance needs. Hoffmann Architects + Engineers served as the building-enclosure specialist. The scope included repointing and rehabilitating brick and brownstone masonry, gently cleaning historic surfaces, and installing aluminum windows in masonry light wells.
Crews also reconstructed parapet walls, rebuilt the main chimney from the roof ridge upward, and reconstructed the north chimney from the third floor upward. For mason contractors, that package is a clear reminder that roofline masonry, parapets, and chimneys tie directly into water management details, and they need tight coordination with roofing and flashing work.
The more than 100-year-old slate roof was replaced with new slate, copper flashings, and wood fascia. Workers restored ornamental terra-cotta ridge covers and finials. Low-slope roofs received a reinforced liquid-applied membrane. Interior work included replacing heating and ventilation systems, upgrading life-safety equipment, restoring water-damaged structures and finishes, and improving accessibility.
“With so many people depending on the center, this restoration project was crucial,” Stratford Mayor David Chess said. Preservation Connecticut recognized Sterling Community Center, Hoffmann Architects + Engineers, Visionary Interiors Architecture, and Turner Construction Company as the project team, with contributions from Thomas A. Torrenti PC, Collective Design Associates, and Pereira Engineering.
Read the full, original article from The Construction Specifier here.