The 2025 Connecticut Preservation Awards, announced April 16, include an Award of Merit for the conversion of the historic former Litchfield County Courthouse into The Abner hotel, which opened in September 2024 and has 20 guest rooms, The Courtroom restaurant, and Verdict: a seasonal rooftop bar.
“In 2017, after 250 years of legal tradition, the State of Connecticut vacated the Litchfield Courthouse,” the release announcing the award explains. “The Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust purchased the property to preserve the historic structure and then contracted with Lexington Partners to adapt the courthouse as a boutique hotel and restaurant. After overcoming many challenges, the renovated courthouse now welcomes guests and diners to Litchfield’s historic town center.”
The Award of Merit for The Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust and Lexington Partners, to be presented at a May 8 celebratory event at the New Haven Country Club, comes from the nonprofit organization Preservation Connecticut, whose mission is to preserve, protect, and promote the buildings, sites, and landscapes that contribute to the heritage and vitality of Connecticut communities.
Cramer & Anderson Partner Perley Grimes guided the effort to preserve and convert the historic courthouse in his role as president of and attorney for The Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust (GLPT), which also has preserved two other landmark buildings in Litchfield center – the former agricultural services center on West Street (now home to Oliphant) and the Post Office building on South Street in 1980, persuading the USPS to remain in the building.
The award for the courthouse conversion caps a long and winding effort to preserve a defining landmark that is central to Litchfield’s identity.
When the State of Connecticut vacated the Litchfield courthouse for a new courthouse in Torrington in 2017, ownership reverted to members of the Beckwith family, descendants of landowners who had leased the courthouse property to the state in 1803.
George Beckwith and the estates of his sisters sold it to the GLPT, which initially explored a plan to donate the courthouse to the town for use as a town hall. The building had been a combined courthouse and Litchfield Town Hall for many years before 1960, when the state Judicial Department decided it needed more space and Litchfield built a new town hall.
The GLPT formally offered to donate the building to the town, and in the fall of 2017 a municipal courthouse committee began studying the feasibility of a conversion project and what it would cost. As the study progressed, the estimated conversion cost rose from $3 million to approximately $8 million.
A referendum allowing voters to decide on whether to accept the donation of the courthouse and move forward with a project came up 56 votes short of approval.
The GLPT then shifted gears, obtaining a State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) grant for a feasibility study to suggest adaptive reuses, which was conducted by Crosskey Architects and Camoin Associates. Three potential uses were identified: residential (apartments or condos), lodging/hospitality like a boutique hotel, and/or general commercial uses such as dining/entertainment.
The Trust’s board endorsed the boutique hotel reuse because it would provide needed mid-level hotel rooms in a town that increasingly has been attracting visitors for its history, scenic beauty, and lifestyle amenities – and specified that the hotel should have a restaurant and bar so the iconic building would remain accessible to the public.
The GLPT then solicited requests for qualifications (RFQs) from developers for the adaptive reuse of the courthouse as a boutique hotel with a restaurant and selected Lexington Partners of Hartford, signing a contract in October 2020.
That contract importantly contained a provision saying the GLPT would place an exterior preservation easement on the 1888 portion of the granite building and clock tower in its existing condition. That portion of the exterior of the courthouse now has been preserved by a conservation easement and restriction held by Preservation Connecticut.
Lexington Partners received an endorsement for tax credits from SHPO, a branch of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, and received federal and state tax credits for the project, which, in addition to avoiding exterior changes to the 1888 portions of the courthouse, was sensitive to significant interior architectural features.
Locally, Litchfield voters approved use by The Abner hotel of 20 parking spaces in the community lot, the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission amended regulations to allow hotels in the location, and the Litchfield Historic District Commission approved the addition of a lobby entrance and the new elevator and stair tower in the rear of the building.
The full project team listed on the Award of Merit from Preservation Connecticut includes Lexington Partners; Tecton Architects; lnnoconn Construction Management; Bohler Engineering; Consoli Bortolan Law Group; Alter, Pearson & Hope; Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust, Inc.; Gregory Farmer; United States Postal Service; Borough of Litchfield Historic District Commission; Town of Litchfield; Attorneys Cramer & Anderson, LLP
About Attorney Grimes
Attorney Grimes, who is based in the Litchfield office, joined the firm as an Associate in 1969, becoming a Partner in 1974. After 20 years with an emphasis in Civil Litigation, his practice evolved to its current concentrations, Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Administration, Real Estate Law, Municipal Law, and Land Use Law. His work in these areas is widely known and recognized. See his profile page to learn more.
About Cramer & Anderson
Cramer & Anderson provides sophisticated legal services, close to home, with regional offices in New Milford, Litchfield, Danbury, and Ridgefield. For more information, see the website or call the flagship office in New Milford at (860) 355-2631.