Christopher Closs Email & Phone Number

Christopher W. Closs, assumed the half-time post of Shared Field Service Advisor in 2009 with Maine Preservation and Greater Portland Landmarks, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Closs led the Preservation Services Department at Landmarks until July, 2015 and now provides strategic and technical preservation advice throughout the communities of Maine. Closs, a consultant in planning, preservation and community / economic development for 36 years has offered specialized services to municipalities, government agencies, and private/institutional clients in the integrated areas of historic preservation and contextual community planning, encompassing adaptive re-use of certified historic commercial and industrial structures, and innovative approaches to downtown revitalization.Closs formerly served with the Northeast Regional Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Boston, before forming his own company in Concord, NH in 1979. During the period 1997-98 he assumed the post of Interim Director of the city-wide, Manchester Historic Association. Closs also was instrumental in the formation of two statewide organizations, the NH Preservation Alliance (1985); and as founding chair of the NH Main Street Center (1996). An expert in the use of NH (NH-CDFA); and Maine state tax credits; as well as federal historic tax credits to stimulate rehabilitation and adaptive re-use, he has participated in 65 successful Certified Rehabilitation (NR) development projects, including Maine’s first such project (the Bangor House, NR) in 1979; and two, award-winning, National Historic Landmark (NHL) projects; Closs resided in Candia, NH for 28 years where he served three terms - one as Chairman - on the Planning Board and helped lead the creation of the Town’s first (1981) and third (2004) Master Plans, while managing, in his spare time, a small, 96-acre diversified farm (John Clay Homestead 1761), which has now been permanently protected with the conveyance of a preservation covenant and two conservation easements, which Closs designed.