In 1923, the Connecticut General Assembly approved funding for an armory in Manchester to house the town’s National Guard units. A drill shed was soon erected at 330 Main Street, followed by the remainder of the building (the front facade of the head house) after additional funds were approved in 1925. Designed in a military Gothic style by the New London architectural firm of Payne and Keefe, the Manchester Armory represents a move away from the picturesque castellated Gothic armories that were built in Connecticut in the first two decades of the twentieth century towards a more streamlined and rigidly symmetrical form related to the emerging Art Deco style. Earlier this year the state sold the armory, which had become vacant, to private owners who plan to convert it into offices and an automotive restoration shop.
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