Naugatuck Savings Bank (1910)

The Naugatuck Savings Bank, a pressed buff brick and limestone building, was constructed in 1910 on Church Street in Naugatuck Center. The original south end of the building, with a grand entrance, was designed by the New York firm of Crowe, Lewis & Wickenhofer. The north end is an addition, built in 1934. The Bank was initially founded in 1870 as the Naugatuck Savings and Building Loan, formed to enable employees of the the Borough’s rubber-producing companies, Naugatuck Malleable Iron and other industries to build their own homes in town. Today, the building serves as the Bank‘s executive offices.

Thomas Neary Memorial Building (1911)

The Thomas Neary Memorial Building is one of the many impressive buildings constructed in the center of Naugatuck at the turn of the nineteenth century, a period of development sponsored by John H. Whittemore. Located on the corner of Church and Maple Streets, the Neary Building is a business block of offices and shops which anchors a row of commercial buildings on Church Street, south of Naugatuck Green. Completed sometime between 1906 to 1911, the heavily ornamented Neo-Classical Revival structure was designed by the Waterbury firm of Griggs & Hunt (Wilfred Griggs designed many similarly impressive buildings in Waterbury). It was built through the efforts of William J. Neary, a lawyer, in honor of his father, Thomas J. Neary, a businessman who owned and operated a wholesale and liquor business on Water Street.

William R. Cotter Federal Building (1932)

Adjacent to the Foot Guard Armory, on High Street in Hartford, is the William R. Cotter Federal Building, built in 1931-1932. Part of the federal government’s Depression-era construction program, the Federal Building once housed the post office and federal courthouse. The courts (in 1962) and post office (in 1977) moved elsewhere and the building now houses various federal offices. In 1982, the building was renamed to honor Congressman William R. Cotter, who represented the First District of Connecticut from 1971 until his death in 1981. The Art Deco and Neoclassical building (pdf), designed by Malmfeldt, Adams & Prentice, is constructed of Indiana limestone and Wisconsin black granite and has two aluminum eagles on the roof.

First National Bank, Hartford (1899)

The State House Square building complex, located just north of the Old State House in Hartford, was completed in 1985. It is the latest structure to occupy a block of state street which has had a number of interesting buildings over the years. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the First National Bank occupied the right end of a commercial block that also included the United States Hotel. Adjacent on the east was the 1834 Greek Revival building of the Hartford National Bank. From 1896 to 1899, the First National Bank moved to a temporary location on Main Street while its new building was constructed. Designed by Ernest Flagg and completed in 1899, the Beaux Arts-style Fist National Bank building had a fireproof construction consisting of steel structural columns and cinder-covered brick vaults under the floors. The facade of the building has survived to become part of State House Square.

Chase Brass & Copper Company Headquarters (1919)

Designed in 1916 by Cass Gilbert and constructed between 1917 and 1919, the former headquarters building of the Chase Brass & Copper Company is located on Grand Street in Waterbury, opposite the city hall, which was also designed by Gilbert. Both buildings were part of a plan of development for Waterbury by the Chase Company’s president, Henry S. Chase, who died in 1918, a year before his company’s office building was completed. He was succeeded as president by his brother, Frederick. The Chase brothers had rejected the use of brick for the new building, so that it would contrast with the colonial style of the nearby city hall. The company left Waterbury in the 1960s, selling the building to preservationists in 1963 for one dollar. In 1966, it was purchased by the city for use as offices and is now known as the Chase Municipal Building.

Unionville Bank and Trust Company (1929)

The Unionville Bank and Trust Company was founded in 1922 and a neoclassical building was constructed on School Street in Unionville in 1929. The Bank went into bankruptcy in 1932 and the building has since been used for other purposes, serving as a branch of the Farmington Savings Bank in the 1950s and being converted to offices in the 1960s. (see “Unionville Historic District Study Report,” pdf, p. 35/70).

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