Gallery owner purchases long-vacant Howard building

TORRINGTON — Howard’s, a shoe retailer that occupied the brick Meara building on the corner of Main and Water streets, closed in February 1996. The closure was a loss for downtown, but the owners at the time, who also shuttered their shoe store in Winsted that year, said they couldn’t compete with big-box retailers and chain stores.

For years, the building, which is next to the Five Points Gallery and Annex gallery spaces, stood empty, watching over Main Street. Two weeks ago, gallery owner John Noelke

bought it, and said he plans to incorporate it into the growing arts scene in downtown Torrington. He owns Noelke Gallery around the corner on Water Street.

“The Howard building has been available for some time, and we’ve got a growing art movement here that’s getting stronger, day by day. One thing I want to make clear is that Martin Richie, the (previous) owner, has been very generous with the terms of this purchase. I’m very appreciative of him and of working with him.”

Right after the sale was finalized, the coronavirus pandemic gained momentum. “We signed the contract, and the next day, coronavirus became worldwide news,” Noelke said. “The ink had just dried, and then everyone was feeling tremendous stress. So it’s a little stressful to do this in the middle of all that’s happening . ... It’s a big decision.”

Noelke has spent the last few weeks inside the space, which includes a basement level and three stories, with a bowling alley on the third floor. Exploring the interior of the Howard building revealed a piece of Torrington’s past.

Prudential Insurance previously rented space in the Howard building, as did a radio station, but much of the shoe business was still visible, and chandeliers hang from the ceilings on the main floor. Noelke turns them on while he’s working inside.

“It’s a piece of American history,” Noelke said. “There are still 150 pairs of shoes in boxes in there. You’re dealing with significant historical artifacts for the city and the nation here. It’s a diary of our economic life and history for the last 65 years or so.

“It really took me back

when I started to realize that,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can to preserve it.”

The bowling alley on the third floor was an exciting discovery, Noelke said. “It’s got high ceilings and wood flooring,” he said. “The local response from people, a sense of place that they feel, is so important. I’m not going to remove the Howard name from the space or the building. People have come in and told stories of their memories of the place.”

The Howard’s closure was lamented by many members of the community in 1996, according to a story by the Hartford Courant. The former owners bought Howard’s from the Strogatz family in 1985. George Strogatz worked there for more than 40 years. He and his brothers got their start in the shoe business in their native Waterbury at the Hertzmark Shoe Store. In 1939, when George was 19, Irving was 23 and Joseph was 27, the Strogatz brothers and another partner opened their store on Main Street in Torrington. They called it Howard’s after the newborn son of partner Clarence Wolk.

According to the story, Howard’s originally was on a bridge over the Naugatuck River, and was destroyed by the flood of 1955. The Strogatz brothers opened in the current location after George and Irving got out of the military in 1946, George Strogatz said. The new store, at 25 Main St., survived with the help of friends and fellow businessmen, Strogatz said.

Torrington Downtown Partners principal Steve Temkin remembers going to Howard’s as a young man.

“I”m happy to see it changing hands,” he said. “It’s an artists’ use he’s looking for, which is good. It’s been vacant for so long; it’s great to see the lights on.”

Temkin called Howard’s “a sentimental building.”

“I grew up in Torrington, and Howard’s is where I used to get my shoes,” he said. “There was a children’s department downstairs. I remember it very well.”

“I’m humbled by the building,” Noelke said. “Our ancestors built this town, and it was hard, but that original infrastructure exists. It’s a phenomenal building. We can’t give up (our ancestors’) dream; we can make it our dream.”

Noelke is looking for tin roofing squares for the bowling alley roof, and a used commercial gas furnace. “I’m in the market for one,” he said. “That’s the biggest issue right now, getting heat into the building.”

Resident Rana Justice is Noelke’s business partner in the purchase. “She’s very driven, very dedicated,” he said. “She is a big part of the gallery, and she really gets the idea of community building. It sounds like a cliche, but she gets it.”

Looking ahead, Noelke said he is looking for serious artists who want to be part of the city’s downtown movement. At his Water Street gallery, he holds the monthy SpeakEasy open mic event every month, as well as musical events and art shows.

“My clientele would be the person who’s looking for life, for whatever reason, through art,” he said. “That’s what a gallery is — it’s for people who need more than bread alone to live. I need strong, serious artists. We’re having a serious movement here. The art movement is based on a beating heart.”

He hopes to have a storytelling night focused on Howard’s past, and will encourage people to share their memories. “Send the poets my way, the storytellers and the philsophers,” he said.

To reach John Noelke, call 860-738-9585 or email johnnoelke@aol.com.

Contributed photo The Meara Building, or Howard’s, as it is known to locals, was recently purchased by John Noelke, owner of the Noelke Gallery on Water Street.

Contributed photo The Meara building, locally known as the Howard building on Main Street, once a popular shoe and clothing store, has stood empty for years. This week, gallery owner John Noelke purchased the building, pictured here from the rear of the property.