YOUNG’S BLOCK

NORWICH CONNECTICUT

Norwich, located in the eastern side of the state, is an ex-mill town at the confluence of the Shetucket, Quinebaug, and Yantic Rivers. The three rivers converge to form the Thames River (pronounced ‘thaymes’ by the locals), a beautiful, wide estuary with towering forested cliffs that run all of fifteen miles to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The town is quite an architectural treasure, with winding streets that twist and climb the granite and schist hills above the river. The mills have long since been abandoned, though a few have been converted to other uses. But the downtown flourished as the mills prospered, and the buildings there still hold the past out at arm’s length for all to see. It’s worth a visit.

I’ll be featuring some of the best and worst of some of this architecture in some of the following posts.

I’m going to begin with a building that might be in Anytown, U.S.A.

 

Young’s Block is the name on the moniker stone, and I never did find out if Young had more of the block under his thumb or if it was just this building, but it caught my eye as soon as I saw it. I was touring the town for the first time, and became so captivated by the area I decided to move there. It hasn’t happened yet, but give it a few months.

The building looks like a small diner or restaurant or even more like a drugstore with a soda fountain. I like the operating clock (with the correct time, yet), the stainless steel trim around the enameled sheet steel edges and as rocket-jockey (rocky- jocket?) wings around the clock and at the angles. I especially like the modernist flat bricks at the parapet; all these together speak of late 1940s or 50s. I can see the bobby sox, poodle skirts and white leather sleeves on lettered jackets. I can smell the burgers and hot dogs, the yellow mustard, the Brylcreme. I can hear Chuck Berry, Perry Como, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The phone rings, and Murray, the owner, answers.

“Billy, ya maw sez ya gawta get home!”

The façade looks to be mostly original, though the doors look 1960s or 70s. A good look at the moved-over trim on the right side makes me think there were wood doors that did not make it through the years. I wonder about the foundation vents; what could they possibly be ventilating?

I like the retro streetlight (made in Mexico), the flowers (real petunias; how do they water them?), and the ‘chopped’ storefront, which gives the façade its retro charm. I also like that it’s a short-term employment office called “Labor Ready.” There is a place in our culture for these, and the fact that they advertise “Work today, paid today” makes me smile. The few times I worked at Manpower back in my pre-salad days, I had to wait two weeks for a check.

Apparently they also sell safety equipment. Good mix; day labor and safety equipment.