Slater Memorial Museum

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Slater Memorial Museum
John Fox Slater Memorial Museum, 108 Crescent Street, Norwich (New London County, Connecticut).jpg
The Slater Memorial Museum in 1958
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Location108 Crescent Street
Coordinates 41°32′1″N72°4′55″W / 41.53361°N 72.08194°W / 41.53361; -72.08194
Built1885; dedicated 1886; opened 1888.
Architect Stephen C. Earle, Cudworth & Woodworth
Architectural styleRichardsonian Romanesque
Part of Chelsea Parade Historic District (ID88003215)
Added to NRHPMay 12, 1989

The Slater Memorial Museum is a historic building and art museum on the grounds of the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, designed by the architect Stephen C. Earle. [1] The building was begun in 1885, dedicated on November 4, 1886, and opened to the public in 1888. [1] [2] It was commissioned by the textile magnate William A. Slater in honor of his father, John Fox Slater (1815–1884). [2] The building, constructed of brick and brownstone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, with rusticated masonry, medieval decorative elements, and the lavish use of tiles and terracotta, is considered by some to be Earle's finest work. [1] [3] [4] It is a contributing property in the Chelsea Parade Historic District in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. [3] The adjacent Converse Art Gallery, built in 1906, was designed by the firm of Cudworth & Woodworth. [4] [5]

Contents

The original museum collection consisted of 227 plaster casts of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Renaissance sculpture, acquired in 1887–1888 with the assistance of Edward Robinson, the curator of classical antiquities at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. [6] [7] These are still displayed in the main hall of the building, and together represent one of the largest surviving collections of plaster casts in the United States. [8] The original displays also included electrotype copies of ancient Greek coins and Renaissance medals, together with photographs of European art and architecture. [6] The collection has since expanded to include colonial and local historic artifacts, American and European paintings and decorative arts, African and Oceanic sculpture, and Native American objects. [8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dahl, Curtis (1987). Stephen C. Earle, Architect: Shaping Worcester's Image. Worcester, MA: Worcester Historical Museum. pp. 17, 24–25..
  2. 1 2 Kent, Henry Watson (1949). Comings, Lois Leighton (ed.). What I Am Pleased to Call My Education. New York: Grolier Club. pp. 23–37 – via Hathi Trust.
  3. 1 2 Devlin, William; Clouette, Bruce (June 25, 1988). "National Register of Historic Places proposal: Chelsea Parade Historic District". National Park Service. section 8, page 6. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
  4. 1 2 "History and Mission". www.slatermuseum.org. Norwich Free Academy. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
  5. ↑ Class of 1884, Harvard College: Twentieth-Fifth Anniversary, Report of the Secretary. Report VII, June, 1909. Cambridge, MA. 1909. p. 235 – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. 1 2 Kent, Henry Watson (1949). Comings, Lois Leighton (ed.). What I Am Pleased to Call My Education. New York: Grolier Club. pp. 39–53 – via Hathi Trust.
  7. ↑ Kent, Henry Watson (1889). Catalogue and Brief Description of the Plaster Reproductions of the Greek and Italian Sculpture in the Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, Conn. Norwich, CT: Academy Press – via Hathi Trust.
  8. 1 2 "Permanent Galleries". slatermuseum.org. Norwich Free Academy. Retrieved March 5, 2025.


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