The World War I Memorial of
Norfolk, Connecticut
Norfolk () is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,588 at the 2020 census. The urban center of the town is the Norfolk census-designated place, with a population of 553 at the 2010 census.
Norfolk is per ...
stands at the corner of Greenwoods Road West and North Street in the town's village center. The
Rustic style
Rustic architecture is a style of architecture in the United States, used in rural government and private structures and their landscape interior design. It was influenced by the American craftsman style.
According to the National Park Service, †...
memorial was built in 1921 to a design by
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
architect
Alfredo S.G. Taylor. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1984 for its association with the architect.
Description and history
Norfolk's
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Memorial stands in a triangular grassy area at the junction of Greenwoods Road West and North Street, near the northern end of the village center. The monument itself is a triangular structure built out of
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, standing about high. Each of its three legs rises in a bellcast shape to a common peak, beneath which hangs a replica of the
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence ...
. Bronze tablets commemorating the town's World War I soldiers are placed on each of the monument's curved triangular faces, just above stone bench projections.
The memorial was designed by Alfredo S.G. Taylor, an architect based in New York City who spent many summers in Norfolk. He is credited with more than thirty commissions in the community, including public and commercial buildings as well as many private residences.
The memorial was dedicated in 1921. It is stylistically in keeping with Taylor's previous uses of stone and rustic styling. In giving him the commission, the town laid down four requirements:
[
#It should be large enough to express the forces of war
#It should avoid the need for a sculpture
#It should be made of local materials
#It should be simple enough to be constructed by the relatives of the war dead
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Buildings and structures completed in 1921
Norfolk, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Litchfield County, Connecticut
World War I memorials in the United States
1921 establishments in Connecticut