Lambert Corners, at the intersection of Danbury and Westport Roads, is an award-winning example of adaptive reuse for historic preservation. The Wilton Historical Society and the Wilton Planning and Zoning Commission pioneered this concept in 1971. Adaptive use provides the opportunity for these historic buildings to be restored and improved and to pay their own way while remaining an representations of the past in a continuously changing environment. The 3.31 acres surrounding the main house, built by David Lambert, have become home to eight other historic structures, displaced from their original sites by development. The buildings have been professionally restored and are used commercially in order to pay for their preservation and to help fund the Heritage Museum. Lambert Corners today consists of nine buildings housing businesses, shops and an apartment. Serving as a gateway to Wilton, the restored buildings provide a vision of a rural Connecticut town, showing facets of eighteenth and nineteenth century life in a farm community; the interiors remain true to the original. [2]

Architecture, Settlement, Education:The David Lambert House is significant as the home of one of Wilton's early settlers, the progenitor of a family that for several generations played a prominent role in the town's political, social, and educational spheres (Criterion A). David Lambert (1700-1782) began buying land in what was then an outlying part of Norwalk in 1722, and he is credited with suggesting the name for the parish that was organized in 1725, Wilton being the home of his father, Jesse Lambert, who had emigrated from England around 1680. Both David Lambert and his son David, Jr., were substantial farmers and held numerous public offices. Later generations of Lamberts were merchants in New York City, using the Wilton home as a country retreat or place of retirement, and in the 1880s and 1890s, David S. R. Lambert operated a boys school in the house, one of several such academies in Wilton during the 19th century. The Lambert Houseis also significant for its many features of architectural interest (Criterion C). With its heavy post and beam construction, huge stone kitchen fireplace, and stairway paneling, it embodies some of the chief distinguishing characteristics of 18th-century Connecticut domestic architecture, while other features, such as the entry treatment and mantels, are typical Federal-period details. The small house to the north, called the Lambert Servants House by the Historic American Buildings Survey, also has historical and architectural significance. Believed to have been built between 1800 and 1825 to house people employed on the Lambert farm, it is a well-preserved example of a tenant house, a type of building which must have once been common on Connecticut's larger farms. Surrounding the Lambert House are a number of buildings of historic interest that have been moved to the site to save themfrom destruction. They include a school, store, railroad station, privy, barn, corn crib, and post office. These buildings are rented for retail and professional space, with the land in between used for parking. [NR]

[1] District and Property information retrieved from the town website http://www.wiltonct.org/index.asp.
[2] Revised Historic District No. # 1, Study Committee Report prepared by Wilton Historic District Commission, 2005, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] Information booklet on Wilton's Historic Districts and Historic Properties, Wilton Historic District and Historic Property Commission, 2007, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[4] Assessors information and Parcel IDs retrieved from the website www.visionappraisal.com.
[NR] Clouette Bruce and Matthew Roth, Lambert David House, National Register Nomination Number-92000908 NRIS, National Park Service, 1992 - http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/92000908.pdf; http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/92000908.pdf.

In 1961, the Connecticut State Legislature enabled local municipalities to establish historic districts, and, since October 1, 1984, historic properties by ordinance, and to establish commissions which review and approve or deny alterations, demolitions, or construction of buildings and other structures within their boundaries and are visible from a public street, way, or place.At a Wilton Town Meeting in 1963 an ordinance was adopted establishing Historic District #1. Since then additional buildings were moved to the site, referred to as Lambert Corners, and the Board of Selectmen updated the ordinance establishing HD #1 in June 2005.A Town Meeting in 1970 established Historic District #2: Wilton Congregational Church, Old Town Hall, and neighboring residences, #3: the Sloan-Raymond-Fitch House historic property, and #4: Hurlbutt Street Schoolhouse historic property. At a Board of Selectmen meeting in June 2005, Historic District #5: the Wilton Historical Society Museum Complex was created. Former Historic District #3, the Sloan-Raymond-Fitch House, was moved to this site and is now included in this district; therefore, #3 was removed. The members of the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on April 4, 2007 to create Historic District #6: Georgetown Neighborhood of Church Street, West Church Street and Redding Road. The ordinance to officially establish Historic District #6 was approved by the Board of Selectmen on May 21, 2007.