Preserving the Merritt Parkway: Partnerships at Work

Leading experts in the fields of architecture, landscape design, engineering, and historical preservation discuss the public-private partnership between the CT Department of Transportation and the Parkway’s advocacy groups that are critical to preserving the beauty and character of the Merritt.

Moderated by Arianne Kolb, Executive Director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, the panel's participants have been closely involved with numerous restoration and maintenance projects on the Merritt Parkway for the past 20 years. 

David Scott Parker is a practicing preservation architect and principal of a 20-member multi-faceted firm with broad experience working on saving significant historic buildings and sites across the nation. Since founding his eponymous firm in 1989, he has led efforts to preserve, restore, and adaptively reuse many National Historic Landmarks, including the U.S. Treasury in Washington, DC, the Mark Twain House in Hartford, and Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk. Other institutional projects include Berklee College of Music’s acclaimed new facility in New York City, Greenwich Historical Society’s Museum in Cos Cob, CT, The Explorers Club in Manhattan, and Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Brooklyn.  Parker was elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2021 for his work in preservation. Parker was named a Trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2020, and also serves as the Vice President of the Board of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.

Peter Viteretto, FASLA, is a Principal at Heritage Landscapes, where he has directed the Norwalk, CT office since 1993. He works with project staff to craft processes that integrate compatible new designs within historical settings, achieving preservation, sustainability, biodiversity, and resilience goals that benefit people and the environment. His work on national historical landscapes include Independence National Historical Park, Gettysburg’s Little Round Top, Vizcaya, Jackson Park, the US Capitol Grounds, Niagara Scenic Parkway, and Saint Gaudens National Historical Park, among others. Viteretto broadens landscape architectural awareness through community engagement, neighborhood associations, and his role on the Norwalk Tree Advisory Committee. He serves as the CTASLA representative to the Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee with CTDOT.

Christopher Wigren is Deputy Director of Preservation Connecticut, which was established in 1975 to protect and promote buildings, sites, and landscapes that contribute to the heritage and vitality of Connecticut communities. He is the author of Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) and serves on the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Review Board and the Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee. His research and projects include the listing of the Merritt Parkway on the National Register of Historic Places. Most recently, he coordinated a project with the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office to document the heritage and works of the Olmsted landscape architecture firm in Connecticut.

Wesley Haynes’s long career in historic preservation has included senior staff positions with the CT Trust for Historic Preservation, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Preservation League of New York State, and New Jersey Historic Trust. He was Executive Director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy 2018-2023 and remains on the executive board. He has worked on the restorations of New York’s Central Park, the New York State Capitol in Albany, and several Adirondack Great Camps, and directed a survey of 1,500 historic mills for the CT Trust.  A Stamford native, Haynes has taught historic preservation at the Parsons School of Design in New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, and the Brooklyn High School for the Arts, and currently serves as a board member of the Pequot library and volunteer preservation advisor to the Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in Bridgeport, Stamford’s First Presbyterian Church, and the New Canaan Preservation Alliance.

Michael Cherpak has been with the Connecticut Department of Transportation for over 18 years, and as its Principal Engineer for the past 4 years. He has supervised design teams on numerous improvement projects on the Merritt Parkway.