Old Academy, Fairfield (1804)

Fairfield’s Old Academy was a school founded in 1802 by a group of prominent local citizens. The schoolhouse itself was erected on the Old Post Road in Fairfield and opened in 1804. The original academy was in existence until around 1884. The building then served several purposes over the years, being used by a nearby private school and as a library and place for meetings. In 1920, the Old Academy was faced with demolition but the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Fairfield Historical Society joined to save and restore the building, which was moved to the town green in 1958. Today the Old Academy is owned by the town and still used by the DAR. Opened to visitors several days a year, the building contains historical artifacts and the second floor is maintained as a replica of the old schoolroom.

The Samuel Seymour House (1784)

The house at 74 South Street in Litchfield is described by Alice T. Bulkeley in Historic Litchfield, 1721-1907 (1907) as follows:

The Seymour house, now St. Michael’s rectory, was built in 1784 by Samuel Seymour, the brother of Major Moses Seymour, who lived there until his death in the early nineteenth century. The south wing was added about twenty or twenty-five years ago. The southeast room on the second floor was used by Calhoun when a law student. Samuel Seymour was a prominent resident of the town and a captain in the militia. He was famous for sharpening razors, and every morning the other members of the Seymour family used to come to his house where they kept their razors, and all shave at the same time. The house was bought in 1860 by Clarissa Seymour, widow of Rev. Truman Marsh, who gave it to St. Michael’s Church for a rectory.

Palace Theater (1922)

Opened in January of 1922, the Poli’s Palace theater was built by Vaudeville impresario Sylvester Z. Poli of New Haven. The Rennaissance Revival building is the work of Thomas W. Lamb, a noted architect of theaters, who later designed the Warner Theatre in Torrington. After Poli’s retirement in 1934, it became the flagship theater of the Loew’s Poli chain and was used as a cinema and performance space until 1987. The Palace Theater has since been restored and reopened in 2004 as a performing arts center for Greater Waterbury.

Warner Theatre (1931)

Described as “Connecticut’s Most Beautiful Theatre” when it opened in 1931, the Warner Theatre in Torrington was a movie palace built by Warner Brothers Studios. It was designed by Thomas W Lamb, an architect who specialized in designing theaters. Sold by Warner Brothers in the 1950s, the Warner suffered from damage in the 1955 Flood and years of neglect. Faced with demolition in 1982, a concerned group of citizens formed the non-profit Northwest Connecticut Association for the Arts to raise money and save the theatre. Like the Garde Theatre in New London, the Warner Theatre has been restored as a performing arts center.

Garde Arts Center (1926)

This weekend we’ll be looking at three surviving Connecticut movie palaces, now restored as theatres. First up is the Garde Theatre in New London, which opened in 1926. It was one of six new movie palaces being built at the time in Connecticut and Massachusetts by Arthur Friend, a New York movie studio attorney and early partner of Cecil B. DeMille, and was nemed for Walter Garde, a pominent businessman. The Art Deco building, the work of architect Arland Johnson, featured a lavish Moorish and Egyptian Revival interior, typical of the movie palaces of the time that sought to create an exotic atmosphere. The Garde‘s early Vaudeville performances were eventually completely supplanted by motion pictures and the theater was owned by Warner Brothers from 1929 to 1978. Since 1985, the building has been the Garde Arts Center and has been extensively restored and and adapted as a theatre for the performing arts.

Waterbury National Bank (1921)

At the intersection of Field and Grand Streets in Waterbury is the former Waterbury National Bank Building, now the headquarters for Junior Achievement of Southwestern New England. Built in 1919-1922, the building is one of several notable structures along Grand Street designed by Cass Gilbert. The Chase family had a long association with the Waterbury National Bank, which was founded in 1848 and was Waterbury’s first bank. Augustus Savin Chase, who became the Bank‘s Cashier in 1852 and President in 1865, controlled it until his death in 1896. The Bank’s original building was located at Grand and Bank Streets, giving the latter thoroughfare its name. Henry S. Chase intended the new bank building to be part of his plan for an impressive Waterbury municipal center. Henry died in 1918 and his brother Irving Chase assumed management of construction, utilizing Cass Gilbert, the same architect who had designed the Chase Brass and Copper Company’s headquarters, also located on Grand Street.