Projects by Name

Breuer received the commission for Litchfield High School through his friend and client, Rufus Stillman. As he did for the Bantam and Northfield Elementary Schools, also located in Litchfield, Breuer worked with the firm of O'Connor and Kilham. In 1953, He finished designs for a sprawling, complex of four buildings meant to accommodate 700 students. Breuer drew on new developments in suburban school construction, which mandated access to easy light and the outdoors. The largest, Y-shaped building housed classrooms, laboratories and administrative offices. Its long arms constructed of concrete block and lined with windows. Breuer placed the square shop building to the northeast, connected to the main building by a glass corridor. A rectangular music building could be found to the southeast with the gymnasium to the southwest. The striking form of the gymnasium with its laminated wood arch and glass elevation arranged in a pattern of vertical rectangles was derived from Gropius's Machine Hall from the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition in Cologne. Construction of the school was completed in 1956.