Horace Belden School and Central Grammar School
Encyclopedia
The Horace Belden School, originally built as the first Simsbury High School, and now the third Simsbury Town Hall, is a Late Gothic Revival
style building built in 1907 in Simsbury, Connecticut
, USA. The adjacent Central Grammar School, now known as the Central Elementary School, is a building built in the same style in 1913. Both buildings were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1993.
The current Simsbury High School
is elsewhere.
According to its NRHP nomination:
The Horace Belden School's designed is believed to follow that of Homerton College
at Cambridge University in England.
Late Gothic Revival architecture
Late Gothic Revival architecture is a subtype of Gothic Revival architecture. It has been used frequently as a term in United States National Register of Historic Places listings...
style building built in 1907 in Simsbury, Connecticut
Simsbury, Connecticut
Simsbury is a suburban town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 23,234 at the 2000 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's twenty-first town in May 1670.-Early history:...
, USA. The adjacent Central Grammar School, now known as the Central Elementary School, is a building built in the same style in 1913. Both buildings were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1993.
The current Simsbury High School
Simsbury High School
Simsbury High School is a public school located in Simsbury, Connecticut. The school was ranked number 3 in Connecticut Magazine's list of Top Connecticut Public High Schools. It was also included in list of Newsweek magazine's 2009 top 1500 public schools, as well as earning the top and second...
is elsewhere.
According to its NRHP nomination:
These schools epitomize in their design and massing the prevailing early twentieth-century philosophy that educational buildings should be monumental structures designed in styles that reflected Euro-English academic traditions. Such architectural precedent had been commonly invoked in the Collegiate Gothic design of earlier college buildings in the state, most notably at YaleYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Trinity, and WesleyanWesleyan UniversityWesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
universities, and, later in the 1940s, at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Some of this effect is lost at the Central Grammar School because of its siting but the long, low massing of the Belden School on its open site particularly conveys this concept. An imposing almost intimidating structure, it commands respect for the value of education.
The Horace Belden School's designed is believed to follow that of Homerton College
Homerton College, Cambridge
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.With around 1,200 students, Homerton has more students than any other Cambridge college, although less than half of these live in the college. The college has a long and complex history dating back to the...
at Cambridge University in England.