Unused church building to be sold
The state bought it for $2.3 million in 2007
HARTFORD — The Second Church of Christ, Scientist building in Hartford — an imposing, classical edifice on Lafayette Street for nearly a century and owned by the state since 2007 — is going up for sale.
The Georgian Revival structure — anchored by an entrance portico and framed by a brick-and-concrete pediment and five limestone columns — was purchased by the state for $2.3 million by the administration of former Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
Despite the purchase, the state never found a use for the former church — constructed in three phases between 1923 and 1930. The decision to sell came late last year.
Proposals to purchase the structure are expected to be sought in the next 60 days or so. The state anticipates listing an asking
price but that price has not yet been determined, said Shane Mallory, administrator for statewide leasing and property transfer for the state Department of Administrative Services, which is handling the sale.
Mallory described the condition of the building as only “fair,” with a “significant investment” required for any new use. He declined to speculate on how much a renovation would cost.
“It would all depend on what you wanted to use the building for,” Mallory said.
The 22,490-square-foot building stands on 1.07 acres on the corner of Russ Street between the criminal court and the State Library and Supreme Court on Capitol Avenue.
Mary Falvey, executive director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, said the former church is the middle of what would have been known at the turn of the 20th century as a “civic center,’ long before the term was used to describe sports and entertainment arenas.
Early plans for Hartford included civic centers like the one at the intersection of Capitol, Washington and Lafayette streets, a grouping of buildings that served cultural and government needs.
Today, the old church’s location near the planned Bushnell Park South, a redevelopment of an expanse of parking lots just east of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, particularly worthy of preservation, Falvey said.
“This civic center, the architecture of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, and the potential that the [Bushnell Park South] development that makes the reuse of this building worthy of special — and expeditious — consideration.”
Falvey said the alliance considered including the church on its recent “endangered properties list” but learned the state planned to sell the building.
Mallory said a state statute required the state to at least look at the building when it came up for sale because it was in close proximity to the district that includes the State Capitol.
Rell led the push for purchasing the building and, at least initially, the state envisioned using it for storage space for the neighboring State Library and practice space for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, neither of which ever happened.
A few years after the purchase, Rell recalled thinking when she first saw the building that its architectural significance should be preserved while finding a modern use.
“I saw it and was struck, not only by its ideal location, but by the beauty of its design and by the way it fit so well into the cluster of buildings around it,” Rell told The Courant in 2010. “This project fits neatly with my administration’s emphasis on smart growth. Rather than building a new building, this acquisition preserves a historic structure and spares virgin land from new construction.”
However, the State Library could not find the funds for the project and the space didn’t work acoustically for the symphony, Mallory said.
Designed by Hartford architect Isaac Allen Jr., the building’s auditorium could seat 800, but the congregation had dwindled to a few dozen when the building was sold to the state. At its opening, the auditorium includes black walnut wainscoting and a floor of one-half inch thick cork tile laid in a design of light and dark brown colors, according to a 1930 story in The Courant.