Telephone Exchange Building (Norwich, Connecticut) facts for kids
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Telephone Exchange Building
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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 Location in Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Location | 23 Union Street, Norwich, Connecticut |
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| Area | 0.2 acres (0.081 ha) |
| Built | 1906 |
| Architect | Williams, Morgan |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| Part of | Downtown Norwich Historic District (ID85000707) |
| NRHP reference No. | 83003590 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | November 28, 1983 |
| Designated CP | April 4, 1985 |
The Telephone Exchange Building is a special old building located at 23 Union Street in downtown Norwich, Connecticut. It sits right behind the Norwich Town Hall. This building was constructed between 1906 and 1907. It was the very first building in Norwich made just for a telephone exchange, which is like a central hub for phone calls.
This building is a great example of how telephone companies built their offices back then. The Southern New England Telephone Company (SNETCO) built it. Today, the building is used for city offices. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 28, 1983, which means it's an important historical site.
What is the Telephone Exchange Building?
The former Telephone Exchange Building is in the middle of Norwich. It's a two-and-a-half-story building made of brick. It has a style called Georgian Colonial Revival, which means it looks like older, grand homes from the colonial times. The roof has a unique shape with stepped ends.
The building sits on a brick base, and it has special brownstone (a type of reddish-brown sandstone) around the bottom. The front of the building has five sections, with the main door in the middle. The doorway is curved, and like the windows, it has a brownstone "keystone" at the top, which is a decorative stone.
A Look Inside: What Was It Like?
The Southern New England Telephone Company (SNETCO) brought telephone service to Connecticut in the late 1800s. They built this specific building to improve phone service in Norwich in 1906-1907.
Inside, the building was set up for all the telephone equipment. The main switchboard, where operators connected calls, was on the second floor. In the basement, there were many batteries. These batteries powered the phones using a method called "common battery," meaning one central power source for many phones.
On the ground floor, there was a lounge area for the company's employees. There was also a "terminal room." This is where all the phone wires came into the building. From there, they were sent either to the switchboard or to the batteries.
From Phones to Police: How the Building Changed
This building was the first one in Norwich built specifically for a telephone exchange. It was very similar to other telephone buildings SNETCO built around the same time in places like Danbury and Middletown.
The building served as a telephone exchange until 1948. That year, the company moved its operations to a bigger building on Chestnut Street. After that, the city of Norwich bought the building.
The city changed the building to become a police station. The basement, which once held batteries, was turned into jail cells. The main and upper floors became offices for the police department. Today, it continues to house city offices.
