Hebron Center School – American Legion Hall (1883)

The American Legion Hall at 18 Main Street in Hebron was built in 1883 as the town’s Center School (District No. 1). A two-room schoolhouse, it replaced an earlier one-room Center Schoolhouse that burned down in the Great Fire of 1882. Because it was the largest school in town at the time, students from one-room schoolhouses in Hebron that were closing in the 1930s were transferred to the Center School. The building was in use as a school until 1949 and then was transferred to the American Legion.

Kensington Town Hall – Percival School (1855)

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Town of Berlin had two town halls to serve the two sections of town, Kensington and Worthington. The building at 329 Percival Avenue, built circa 1855, was the Kensington Town Hall until 1907. In that year, the town acquired Brandegee Hall on Worthington Ridge to be a new Town Hall for all of Berlin (it served in that capacity until 1974). The former Kensington Town Hall became Percival School and is now a private residence.

Wells Hall (1832)

Much altered over the years, the Classical Revival building at 1110-1112 Main Street in East Hartford was erected in 1832-1833. It was known as the Academy and housed the East Hartford Select School, also known as the Classical and English School. The school eventually closed and the building was acquired by Jonathan Tremaine Wells in 1858. It became part of the larger Wells estate to the east, which included the famous Wells Tavern. Upon his death in 1881, Wells willed the Academy to the town for use as a public building to be called Wells Hall. In 1885 it became East Hartford’s town hall and a new front entry tower was added to the structure. In addition to town offices, Wells Hall also housed a library and the police department, including jail cells. On the second floor was a large public hall, used as a ballroom and as a meeting place for the Grange and the Grand Army of the Republic. When the current Town Hall building was erected in 1937, ownership of Wells Hall reverted to the heirs of Jonathan Wells, as per his will. For many years the building was the Old Town Hall Inn and Restaurant. In the 1930s to 1950s, the Inn had a dinner theater that hosted famous performers. In more recent years the building has been restored and expanded and a 1924 addition on the front of the building, which for many years blocked the 1885 entrance, was removed. Wells Hall now houses the offices of the East Hartford Board of Education.

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Choate Rosemary Hall: Memorial House (1921)

Memorial House is a large Georgian Revival dormitory building on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. Completed in 1921, it was dedicated to the memory of the fifteen Choate boys who had fallen in the First World War. In 2014, new stair railings and new balustrade and columns for the entry portico were added in front of the building to mark the centennial of the war’s beginning. Memorial Hall was designed by Francis Waterman to be a mirror image of Hill House, which he had designed for the Choate campus a decade earlier.

Choate Rosemary Hall: Hill House (1911)

In 1908, George St John became headmaster of The Choate School in Wallingford. During his forty-year tenure, he oversaw a massive expansion of the school’s campus, which featured the erection of several large red brick Georgian Revival institutional buildings. The first of these was Hill House, completed in 1911. Designed by Francis Waterman, it set the style for the growing campus. The building was extended on the south side with the construction of the original Hill House Dining Hall in 1913-1914. Over the years, additional structures have been attached to Hill House, which remains at the heart of the Choate campus.

Choate Rosemary Hall: Seymour St. John Chapel (1924)

On the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford is the Seymour St. John Chapel, built in 1924. Designed by noted collegiate and ecclesiastical architect Ralph Adams Cram, it was originally named St. Andrew Chapel. In 1998, it was renamed in honor of Rev. Seymour St. John (1912-2006), who served as the school’s headmaster from 1947 to 1973. Over a decade ago the Chapel underwent a major renovation. In addition to repairs and updates to the building, the clock tower’s 10-bell Meneely Bell Co. Chime was also extensively restored and reconnected to the Chapel’s original Seth Thomas clock.

South Britain Academy (1835)

The house at 698 South Britain Road in South Britain, Southbury was built c. 1835-1840 as a school called the South Britain Academy. The Academy, started around 1820, had a library and an Institute for Elocution and Debating. The school had closed by the 1860s and the building was converted into a residence. In 1922 it was acquired by Henry McCarthy, a merchant, and his wife, Helen McCarthy, who worked as secretary of Southbury’s board of Selectmen from 1943-1965 and then worked for the town’s social services office.