Breaking New Ground

Breaking New Ground

This year, Pomfret has embarked on a flurry of capital improvement projects.

BY GARRY DOW

When Harold Harvey ’12 arrived as a wide-eyed first former in 1906, Pomfret was a campus of cottages. There wasn’t a single stone or brick building anywhere. When he graduated six years later, the physical plant had been utterly transformed.

Between 1907 and 1912, Pomfret erected eight new buildings, seven of which were paid for entirely by donors. These included the School Building, the four Bricks (Dunworth, Pontefract, Plant, and Bourne), Pyne Infirmary, Clark Memorial Chapel, and Lewis Gymnasium. It also included our most iconic monument, the Proctor Sundial, donated by William Ross Proctor. With the exception of the headmaster’s house, and one or two less conspicuous structures, the old frame buildings Harold Harvey knew and loved were gone. The pace of change must have felt exhilarating, if not a little dizzying.

In the decades since, the School has continued to add new buildings to the original campus core: Hard Auditorium in 1928, the Main House in 1956, Monell Science Building in 1958, Brown Rink in 1963, du Pont Library in 1969, Strong Field House in 1983, Centennial Center for Arts and Academics in 2000, Lasell Alumni House in 2001, Olmsted Student Union and Corzine Athletic Center in 2004, Jahn Rink and Blodgett Boathouse in 2005, Blodgett Tennis Center in 2007, Parsons Lodge in 2010, Campbell House in 2017, and our newest building, the Health and Wellness Center, in 2018.

Of course, with any kind of progress, there also comes a certain kind of loss. “I miss them, in spite of my respectful admiration for their more efficient and solid successors,” wrote the author Edward Streeter, Class of 1910, referring to the original cottages. “Each of those old buildings had a character of its own. The floor and stair treads creaked, but each in their own individual way. Each house had its own aroma. These are things no architect and no Board of Trustees can ever reproduce. Only the Old Timers know this and it is, perhaps, the core of their nostalgia.”

Ironically, it is these “more efficient and solid successors” which today kindle feelings of nostalgia in us. This Hilltop — sculpted by nature and shaped with human hands — is an essential part of our identity. It is virtually impossible to imagine Pomfret School located anywhere else, looking like anything else. And yet, things change. The trick is to honor the past without becoming beholden to it. To keep breaking new ground.

Blank Slate

SCHOOL BUILDING

For more than a hundred years, the slate tiles adorning the top of this national historic landmark have withstood the worst weather New England has to offer, everything from lashing rain and driving snow to hurricane force gales and lightning strikes. This summer, Mahan Slate Roofing Company expertly removed and replaced the century-old stone shingles, guaranteeing that the School Building will stand the test of time. This project also included a full rehab of the building’s iconic clock tower, last restored by beloved faculty member Ben Morgan ’53 in 1988.

INVESTMENT: $1.1 M

COMPLETION: SEPTEMBER 2021

BUILDER: MAHAN SLATE ROOFING COMPANY

Surprise

OLMSTED STUDENT UNION

When students returned from Spring Break last year, they found a bright, colorful space waiting for them. The crown jewel of this “surprise” renovation was a revamped Tuck Shop made possible with support from the Class of 1995. Today, this reimagined two-level space (See page 64) sports comfy booths and sleek hightops, a perfect compliment to the core architectural features of the former gymnasium. “I absolutely love it,” said Jackson Partilla ’21, who was one of the first students to visit the space when it opened last year. “It's a place where students can just be students.”

INVESTMENT: $250,000

COMPLETION: MARCH 2021

BUILDER: POMFRET FACILITIES

Chill Out

JAHN RINK

The most significant upgrade to this sixteen-yearold rink is the one you can’t see. Hidden away behind closed doors is a sophisticated mechanical room, driven by a powerful chiller, which has extended Pomfret’s ice season by several months. In addition, a large glass wall now separates the lobby from the rink, giving spectators a warm place to take the chill out between periods. “The new ice at its worst is better than the old ice at its best,” says Charlie Fok ’22, who plays hockey for the Griffins. “It has made a huge difference.”

INVESTMENT: $3.6 M

COMPLETION: AUGUST 2021

ARCHITECT: CENTERBROOK ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS

BUILDER: SHAWMUT

Cause for Celebration

By Chip Lamb P ’09, ’11

In the darkness, you wait. Your heart is pounding, your mouth is dry. The anticipation grows as you strain to hear those all-important words, those particular notes of music. That is the moment. Your moment. You must act.

You look up and your eyes focus on the walls around you. And there they are. The names. The names of hundreds of Pomfret students who have gone before you. They have all waited here too. Just like you.

Now the moment is very close. You breathe deeply and then notice something else. A calm. A resolve. You know your lines, you have rehearsed your song. You are ready.

There it is. Your cue. There is nothing else to do but to take the plunge.

And you step into the light.

So many voices have been heard over the years in the lovely room known as Hard Auditorium.

For over 90 years, this theater has been the home for the performing arts here at Pomfret.

By the late 1920s, the School was in desperate need of more classrooms as well as a place for assemblies, concerts, films, and plays. The old gymnasium that stood to the north of the Main House had at last reached its limit as a useful venue.

Pomfret was fortunate enough to have a trustee who answered the call of need, and on Easter in 1928, Anson W. Hard gave a gift to the School — the funds for a new auditorium with science laboratories in the basement. At a feverish pace, Hard Auditorium was built brick by brick. On February 8, 1929, Pomfret celebrated this lovely addition to its impressive campus.

The evening began with a farce called “The Dictator” by Richard Harding Davis in which a young American is forced into becoming the surprising leader of a South American republic. At the intermission, both the Mandolin and the Glee clubs performed. Following the performance, at midnight, dinner was served in the Main House. I hope all those Pomfret students had eaten a big lunch!

This year, Hard Auditorium will be reimagined. With the expertise of engineers, architects, builders, administrators, and faculty, a new version of this important facility will come to life. Updated sound and lighting systems will support a new stage and audience configuration — including a wrap-around balcony that expands seating capacity to five hundred.

Hard Auditorium, at the very heart of our campus, will continue to serve the School as an important performance space where students can raise their voice and share their ability in the performing arts.

Now that is a cause for celebration!

Theater Director Chip Lamb P ’09, ’11 holds the Scripps Endowed Chair for the Arts. He is collaborating with Ridley Pearson ’71 on a new musical based on Pearson’s novel, The Academy. The production, with support from The Class of 1967 Faculty Impact Award, is slated to debut this May in the newly renovated Hard Auditorium.

State of the Art(s)

HARD AUDITORIUM

When it reopens later this spring, Hard Auditorium will be home to a new state-of-the-art theater with enough telescoping stadium seating to fit the entire Pomfret community. The gut renovation will also include new air conditioning, heating, electrical, water, and drainage systems. As part of the project, the old breezeway connecting Hard Auditorium to the School Building will be dismantled and replaced with a new three-story connector housing an elevator.

INVESTMENT: $6.8 M

COMPLETION: MAY 2022

ARCHITECT: CENTERBROOK ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS

BUILDER: SHAWMUT

Home Sweet Home

FACULTY HOUSING

In September, Wolchesky Builders broke ground on three new faculty houses. The stick-built construction, located near the facilities barn on the southside of campus, includes two three-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom home.

INVESTMENT: $1.3 M

COMPLETION: MAY 2022

ARCHITECT: NEW ENGLAND DESIGN

BUILDER: DUGAN CUSTOM BUILDERS, MICHAEL “DUGAN” WOLCHESKY

A Steward in Action

You think it takes a lot to maintain your property? Try caring for a place with 50 buildings, connected by a labyrinth of underground wires and pipes, fed by a central power plant that produces electricity, heat, and coolant simultaneously. Then add 200 acres of impeccably manicured lawns, pathways, and terraces. Surround that stunning landscape with several hundred more acres of riparian lowland, forested upland, and hilltop meadow. Oh, and don’t forget about the 600 people who live, work, study, and play here.

As the director of facilities, Brenda Bullied is responsible for it all. An interior designer by training, she says, “The weight and responsibility of caring for this incredible place is not lost on me. It truly is a team effort. It takes the whole community — different people with different skills, all working together — to keep this place running. I feel fortunate to play some small role in stewarding a place that means so much to so many.”