Chapel, Avon Old Farms School (1922)

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One of the first buildings to be constructed at Avon Old Farms School in Avon was a carpentry shop (other early buildings were the Water Tower and Forge). The carpentry shop was later turned into the school’s Chapel in 1948 and named the Chapel of Jesus the Carpenter. The school buildings were designed by Theodate Pope Riddle, who utilized craftsman from the Cotswolds in England to construct buildings in a traditional English country manner. The carpentry shop is a half-timbered structure of brick nogging resembling similar buildings found in English villages that Theodate Pope Riddle had visited. Originally, students sat in the chapel on seats that faced each other along its length. The Chapel underwent a major renovation in 1999: the roof was restored and a new organ was installed inside. Next to the Chapel is a wooden cross, made in the early 1950s with hand tools using timber grown in the school’s woodland’s. It was placed in its current location when the Chapel was renovated in 2000. A tablet notes that it is dedicated to the memory of Donald W. Pierpont, Provost (Headmaster) from 1947 to 1968.
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Fuller Brush Factory (1922)

Founded in 1906 by Alfred C. Fuller (whose 1917 house still stands on Prospect Avenue in Hartford), the Fuller Brush Company, famous for its door-to-door salesmen, was located in Hartford until the 1960s. The company built a factory at 3580 Main Street in Hartford in 1922-1923. On March 31, 1923, as it was nearing completion, a 56,000-gallon water tank dropped through 4 concrete floors of the factory’s tower, a disaster in which ten people were killed. The tower was eventually rebuilt. Today, the former factory contains employment and social service agencies. This building is mentioned on p. 180 of my book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut.

Langrock Building (1927)

Built in 1927, the Langrock Building, at 268 York Street in New Haven was designed to fit in with the architecture of neighboring Yale University. The building, designed by Jacob Weinstein, was built by David T. Langrock to house his men’s clothing store. At the time, New Haven had become a center of custom tailoring shops. Langrock also had other clothing shops near Ivy League schools, in Princeton and Harvard Square. Although bankrupt at the time of his death, Langrock owned real estate in Providence, Rhode Island, which was sold. Part of the funds were used to establish the David T. Langrock Foundation. In 1982, the Foundation established The David T. Langrock Old Masters Art Fund, which promotes classical art and the study of classical art in the Greater New Haven area. The Langrock Building has housed many businesses over the years.