New Canaan Community Nursery School

Homeowner:

NCCNS

Team Award:

77 Old Norwalk Road

In Kiwanis Park, a brick and glass box to accommodate a nursery school was built in 1955, designed by Charles O’Hara, of O’Hara, Hedson, Halasz and Edson, Architects.

Fifty some years later a pavilion was designed and built around the front of the building to accommodate some new uses and to present a more interesting face to the road, without obliterating the original architecture.   At the same time the interiors were rearranged and remodeled.  One exterior wall, now enclosed by the new pavilion, has been covered with children’s painted tiles.

The School Board’s President, Sunan Jones and the Director of Education, Pamela Turner, turned to Maryann Thompson Architects, of Cambridge, MA, for a solution, with Randy Salvatore of RMS, Stamford, as contractor.

This delicate new façade, floating in front of and incorporating the original box, provides a positive embellishment to the original design, without obscuring it.

 

The New Canaan Community Nursery School represents good preservation practices by

1) preserving the original structure while

2) rehabilitating it for additional uses

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