St. Mary’s Parochial School: Difference between revisions

United States historic place

St. Mary’s Parochial School is a historic former parochial school on Beaver Street South of Broad Street in New Britain, Connecticut. Built in 1904, it was the first brick school building in the city, and a fine example of Classical Revival architecture. It served as a school until 1972, and was converted into elderly housing in the 1990s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.^[1]

The former St. Mary’s Parochial School is located on the north side of New Britain’s Downtown Area, behind St. Mary’s Church on the east side of Beaver Street. It is a three-story brick structure on a brownstone foundation, with a hip roof and a slightly projecting gabled entry section. The main entrance stands under a large round-arch recess, which is flanked by narrow sash windows with transom. A brownstone beltcourse separates the floors, and there are a pair of sash windows above the entrance arch, with flanking narrow sash windows; these windows are all topped by transoms with diamond grillwork.^[2]

St. Mary’s parish was established in 1850 to serve the city’s growing Irish immigrant population. Its first parochial school was established in 1862, in a frame building at High and Myrtle Streets. This building was constructed in 1904 as a replacement for that one, and was the city’s first brick school building. It continued to serve New Britain’s increasingly diverse Catholic population as its only parochial school until 1938, when a second school was built by St. Ann’s. This school was closed in 1972, and used by the parish for other purposes until 1974, when it was permanently shuttered.^[2]