Hartford Seminary (1981)

The origins of the Hartford Seminary go back to the opening of the Theological Institute of Connecticut in 1834 in East Windsor Hill. Some houses in that neighborhood, where professors at the institute once lived, have survived, but the original seminary buildings have not. In 1865, the Institute moved to Hartford and in 1885 changed its name to the Hartford Theological Seminary. After occupying several old houses on Prospect Street, in the 1880s the Sminary moved to a campus on Broad Street, across from Hartford High School. In the 1920s, the Seminary moved to a new Gothic campus (now the UCONN Law School). In 1972, the Seminary changed from being a traditional residential divinity school and became an interdenominational theological center. It was decided to sell the old campus and construct a single building, designed by Richard Meier, a post-modern architect known for his use of the color white. The new structure was built between 1978 and 1981 and in the latter year the institution’s name was changed to Hartford Seminary. (more…)

Stony Hill School (1856)

On the west side of Windsor Avenue in Windsor is a brick one-room schoolhouse called Stony Hill School. It was built around 1856 and originally stood across the street, but was moved to its present location in 1899 and rebuilt in the colonial revival style. The current site is on land deeded to the Board of Education by Dr. Erastus E. Case in exchange for land on the other side of Windsor Avenue. After the building ceased being used as a school in 1969, Case’s heirs sued the town, claiming that this violated Case’s deed. The town settled the lawsuit with a payment to the heirs. The school, which was damaged when a pine tree fell on it in 1970, has since been restored as a historic site and educational facility through the efforts of the Friends of Stony Hill School.

Old Naugatuck High School (1905)

One of the most important buildings designed by McKim, Mead & White in Naugatuck is the High School on Hillside Avenue, constructed in 1905. Naugatuck industrialist and philanthropist John H. Whittemore wanted the school to have a prominent position on a hill overlooking Naugatuck Green and the many other structures that he had commissioned the firm to design. To adapt to the sloping site, the firm created a building in which each of its three floors has an entrance at ground level and each side is designed with its own distinct appearance. Based on Greek temples, the school is constructed in pink granite and pressed buff brick. A new High School was built on Rubber Avenue in 1959 and, although the original school’s interior was damaged by fire in the 1960s, it was painstakingly restored to become a junior high school, now called Hillside Middle School.

Westover School (1909)

The Westover School is an independent preparatory day and boarding school for girls in Middlebury. Plans for the school’s quadrangle were completed in 1907 by Theodate Pope for Mary Hillard, Westover‘s first headmistress, who had sought to establish a school west and over the hill from Waterbury. The building was completed and opened in 1909. Designed in the Colonial Revival style, to harmonize with other structures around Middlebury Green, the Westover School building features a hexagonal cupola above the central entrance pavilion, with a Gothic chapel projecting on the east end of the structure and the cottage-like quarters of the headmistress on the west. In 1916, Theodate added Virginia House, an art and music studio, to the Westover campus.