A historic but vacant building in downtown Middletown that began as a parochial school more than a century ago would be converted to 16 apartments under a developer’s plan.
Parker Benjamin Inc. is proposing to preserve the three-story brick school at St. Johns Square, which has been shut down since 2010.
The developer will lay out specifics for the planning and zoning commission at a hearing next month, but has indicated the project would create “attainably priced” housing for the city.
Farmington-based Parker Benjamin has been involved in historic redevelopment projects in New London, Killingly and Winsted, and has others either under way or in planning in East Hartford as well as Higganum.
Its plan is Middletown is to share the existing parking lot with St. John’s Church, an arrangement endorsed by Rev. James Thaikoottathil, pastor of both St. John’s and St. Sebastian Church.
Parker Benjamin’s application pledges to put aside four apartments for tenants earning no more than 80% of the region’s median income, and would target the other 12 to be affordable to people making 100% or less of the region’s median income.
City tax records list the St. John School as 16,000 square feet and indicate it was built 142 years ago. It operated as part of St. John’s Church, described as the oldest church in the Norwich Archdiocese.
“Soon after its beginning in 1843, St. John’s Church established a parochial school. For some years the school was conducted by lay teachers. From 1866 to 1872 the school was part of the public school system of Middletown,” according to a record of the Connecticut Historical Commission.
“In May of 1872 seven nuns from the Sisters of Mercy order in Ireland arrived to re-establish religious control of the school. By 1896 some 500 pupils were being taught there. The current school building was erected in 1887 and blessed in 1888.”
The document describes a building that’s undergone remarkably little change over the decades.
“A small front ‘schoolhouse’ belfry has been replaced by a raised central gable and cross. This change, and the installation of interior wiring and plumbing around 1900, are virtually the only alterations,” it reads. “This school building completes the basic complex of St. John’s Church properties. It constitutes an essential component of the complex, both in siting, since it fills in the block on the west, and in function, serving as the educational wing of St. John’s mission to the community.”
The record is undated but appears to be from the 1980s or ’90s, as it reads “John’s School continues strong in the last quarter of the twentieth century, despite a nationwide decline in parochial education.”
The school closed in 2010 and city leaders are eager to see to building back in productive use. Parker Benjamin’s proposal is committing to preserving it.
“The structure is a contributing building to Middletown’s historic inventory and is the subject of a State Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service tax credit application. All exterior rehabilitation work will comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s standards with no planned changes to the exterior,” the company wrote in its application.
Earlier this year, Manchester gave the go-ahead for Parker Benjamin to convert the former Nathan Hale School into 41 apartments. Town leaders three weeks ago approved tax incentives to ensure the project goes forward.
The company is also restoring the former Scovil Hoe mill complex in Haddam into a mixed-use development, and is working with East Hartford on plans to restore the Church Corners Inn.
“Parker Benjamin restores certified historic structures all over the state,” Brian Lyman, a director of the company, said Tuesday. “Some are schools, some are mills or downtown offices.”