The Waterbury Municipal Center Complex, also known as the Cass Gilbert National Register District, is a group of five buildings, including City Hall, on Field and Grand streets in Waterbury, Connecticut, United States. They are large stone and brick structures, all designed by Cass Gilbert in the Georgian Revival and Second Renaissance Revival architectural styles, built during the 1910s. In 1978 they were designated as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are now contributing properties to the Downtown Waterbury Historic District.
The complex was financed by the Chase family, owners of the Chase Brass Company, one of Waterbury's major industries at the time. In the wake of a 1902 fire that had destroyed a portion of downtown, the Chases and other local businessmen saw an opportunity for urban renewal. Cass Gilbert won the competition to design a new complex a few blocks from the old city hall building (since demolished) on West Main Street. Unusual for the time, the complex would house not just the mayor and city council but the public safety functions of city government such the police and fire departments, courts and jails. In keeping with the contemporary City Beautiful movement, the complex included other large-scaled buildings in its "court of honor", such as Chase's headquarters, a building named Lincoln House for the city's charitable organizations and a dispensary.
Similar architectural characteristics and motifs unite the buildings thematically. They have flat roofs, rusticated ground levels, and pilasters dividing bays in the middle stories. The two largest, City Hall and the Chase Building, have an opposite configuration. Many of the same decorative patterns are used on all the buildings. One in particular is the use of quotations from Abraham Lincoln. This is interesting since Lincoln never visited Waterbury nor had any particular connection with the city. It is possible that they reflect a renewed interest in Lincoln in the wake of the centenary of his birth or the 50th anniversary of his death, both recent occurrences at the time of the complex's construction.
The headquarters building and Lincoln House have since been converted to other uses, mainly private office space and additional city offices. City government continues to occupy City Hall. By the end of the 20th century the decline of the city's industries had led to the deterioration of the building, and it was condemned by the city's building department. A bond issue was later passed to raise money for its restoration.
Buildings
The five buildings in the complex cover a area of Grand and Field streets on the south edge of downtown Waterbury, just north of the Interstate 84 viaduct. City Hall and the Chase Building are on opposite sides of Grand between Church, Field and Leavenworth streets; the other four are on the east side of Field. Immediately adjacent are some other public buildings: a National Guard facility to the south; the city's post office and a federal court building on the east along the south side of Grand (across from a row of commercial buildings), a state courthouse and the Silas Bronson library and its park to the west.
City Hall
Located on the south side of Grand, City Hall has three sections. A large main block faces the street, with two projecting rear wings on the south housing the police and fire departments. They are connected by a rear section to form a courtyard. A garage has been added to the fire station since construction.
The main block is a three-story, 17-by-3-bay ( long by high) Georgian Revival structure, faced in marble on its first story and brick with marble trim on the upper two. Atop its flat roof is a small penthouse, from which a four-stage tower rises. It is set back from the street to allow for a fountain plaza Gilbert referred to as the entourage.
The entourage is a rectangular area, reached by steps from the street, with a paved oval at the center. In the middle of the oval is a round marble fountain within a round catch basin. Six carved light standards, each with two lamps, flank the steps leading from the street. On either side of the entourage are large flagpoles on bronze bases inside grass parterres bordered by small hedges. At the rear of the parterres are marble urns with fountains flanking the balustraded entrance steps.
Exterior
On the north (front) facade, the first-story marble is rusticated. Trabeated six-over-six double-hung sash windows are slightly recessed in arched surrounds. The corners are slightly recessed; the middle 11 bays project slightly to form a small pavilion.
Atop the first story of that pavilion is a blind paneled balustrade. Large fluted composite pilasters divide each bay, set with recessed nine-over-nine double-hung sash and projecting cornice caps in the pavilion and full round-arched windows on the ends. At the end of the pavilion are narrow sash windows with bronze grilles. The center bays of the end sets, and the pavilion bays, have bronze geometric balconies with center medallions.
A thin terra cotta belt course with gougework and geometric shapes sets off the third story. The pavilion has trabeated six-over-six sash flanked by blind bays at its end, and the end bays have circular bas-reliefs, depicting, from east to west, "Industry" as a workman amid gears and cogs, the city seal, "Commerce", as a figure of Mercury with a caduceus, "Force" as a Roman gladiator, and Justice. In the pilaster capitals are two designs, one of which features a prominent eagle.
The marble frieze below the roofline has a regular pattern of decorated discs with swags at the pavilion ends. Above it is a modillioned cornice with carved leaves and bead-and-reel moldings. They in turn support a broad balustrade. At the pavilion ends and above the three center bays are panels with vertical gougework in a wave pattern. The center is further decorated with the inscription Quid Aere Perennius, Latin for "more lasting than brass."
On the east and west sides are a central entrance with steps on either side. Above it is an arched tablet with an inscription: "Impartiality is the life of Justice as Justice is of all government. Justice is the constant desire and effort to render to every man his due" by the Roman emperor Justinian I on the west, and "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it" attributed to Abraham Lincoln on the east. The third story has a panel (further inscribed with "Reason is the Life of Law" on the west) between two circular bas-reliefs in carved leaf surrounds. On the east side they depict "Truth" as a woman contemplating a skull and "Prudence" as a woman gazing into a mirror; on the west are "Wisdom" as an aged man holding a lamp and "Order" as a female with a mace.
The tower's lowest stage has corner pilasters and louvered flat-topped openings in all four sides. Above it is a blind balustrade with corner posts and swags. Pilasters frame arched openings. Another blind balustrade, its corners topped with urns, has clocks in all four faces. The final stage is a bell-cast gilded roof with bronze weathervane.
On the east side, the fire station wing is a nine-by-eleven-bay two-story structure. Like the main block it is stone on the first and brick up top. Five of the six arched bays on the east side are used for fire engine garages, their double doors topped with radiating-sash fanlights. The seventh bay is a regular door, leading to offices. The two stories are separated by another blind balustrade. Above the arched second story windows, set with six-over-six trabeated sash, is a plain cornice and marble-topped parapet.
The police wing, on the east, is mostly identical. A rear wing houses the jail. It has eleven bays at street level, and the main entrance is in the center of the west facade. Its rear bays have trabeated openings with bronze grilles.
Inside the wall between the two wings is a courtyard. It has gardens and benches. Several of those latter are original Gilbert designs.
Interior
The center door is screened by a bronze grille. It has a full foliate surround and fan, radiating from a central cluster to end in anthemia. On the door itself are grilles of square panels with center medallions that alternate between round and square shapes and rosette bindings.
Behind it, there is a small vestibule. Bronze commemorative plaques on the sides honor local World War I veterans. A rear entry with sidelights topped by teardrops and an elliptical arch with fanlight, all of leaded glass, opens into the east-west central hallway.
The hallway is sided in Vermont marble with carved panels featuring a fleur de lis pattern at the base, supported on eagle brackets and divided by pilasters with oak and acorn capitals. To the west of the vestibule is a panel with gilded letters both serving as a building directory and dedication plaque. Entrances are set in arcaded surrounds with medallions; the stairway and vestibule arches have eagle keystones. Atop the wall is a frieze with a center lamp between griffins holding ribbons and garlands. The coffered ceiling is painted with triangles and rosettes. Round hanging bronze glazed lanterns with clustered bulbs provide light.
The front lobby is also lit from the rear by a six-over-six double-hung sash set with leaded and stained glass, opaque on the bottom but with a cartouche and swag on top. The stair climbs to a Palladian window, also with stained glass. It is decorated with swags and ribbons, corner cartouches and panels topped with eagles in the center and vases and foliation topped with a lit torch on the outer panels. A cartouche-enclosed oval at the top has the date "1915" carved within.
At the landing next to this window the stairs divide. They are girded by an iron balustrade with bronze railing. The stairwell is further balustraded with a stylized compass in the center and a wave beneath the rail.
In the second floor hallway, decoration is more restrained. It has marble floors, wainscoting, door and window surrounds and pilasters but the walls themselves are plaster. The pilasters are topped with Roman Doric capitals that support a decorated frieze and dentilled cornice. In the metopes are painted vases and medallions. The ceilings are plain.
The original mayor's office is directly opposite the top of the stairs. It has freestanding fluted Roman Doric columns in the entrance. Fluted wall pilasters and marble wainscoting supporting a full entablature and arched ceiling.
On either end of the hallway are city council chambers. The eastern one was originally built for that purpose; the western one was a courtroom. In the former, the aldermens' desks are within a semicircular balustrade outlined with paralleling benches for the public. The Roman Doric continues to be used. Fluted pilasters in that mode support a full entablature and modillioned cornice. On the ceiling are octagonal panels with rosettes at the center. From it hangs a bronze chandelier with two levels of electric candles. The wall sconces, corner lights and door clock are original. A 1934 map of Waterbury has been substituted for an original decoration behind the mayor's chair.
Due to the change in use, there is less original detail in the west chamber. The balustrade, wall clock and light fixtures are among those aspects that do. The ceiling, also original, has the same center rosettes as its eastern counterpart but with square panels on the outer portions.
Chase Headquarters Building