Welcome to the Archives of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation. The purpose of this online database is to function as a tool for scholars, students, architects, preservationists, journalists and other interested parties. The archive consists of photographs, slides, articles and publications from Rudolph’s lifetime; physical drawings and models; personal photos and memorabilia; and contemporary photographs and articles.
Unless otherwise noted, all images and drawings are copyright © The Estate of Paul Rudolph and The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation. Please speak with a representative of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation to get permission to use any drawings or photos. Drawings, sketches and other materials produced by Rudolph’s architectural office at the Library of Congress are maintained there for preservation, but the intellectual property rights belong to the Paul Rudolph Estate and Ernst Wagner, founder of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation.
LOCATION
Address: 784 Fairfield Avenue
City: Bridgeport
State: Connecticut
Zip Code: 06604
Nation: United States
STATUS
Type: Government
Status: Demolished
TECHNICAL DATA
Date(s): 1961-1964
Site Area: 24,829 s.f.
Floor Area: 10,000 s.f.
Height:
Floors (Above Ground): 1
Building Cost: $111,107 (1964)
PROFESSIONAL TEAM
Client: State of Connecticut
Architect: Paul Rudolph
Associate Architect:
Landscape:
Structural:
MEP:
QS/PM:
SUPPLIERS
Contractor: L. F. Pace and Sons Construction
Subcontractor(s):
Addition to Juvenile Detention Home
Original plans called for “a one-story fireproof building to house 18 children in the rear of the present juvenile court building.”
The addition was constructed at the rear of the former Rakoezi building which was bought by the State of Connecticut in June 1960 for $266,000 by the William Penn Fraternal Association
The campus, located on Fairfield Avenue, consists of 10,000 square feet with 28 beds, an all-purpose room and an outdoor activity yard.
The facility was designed as separate from the court building, but with a connecting corridor. Because of a shortage of funds, a proposed passageway to connect the detention building with the main court building was eliminated from the project scope.
The steel and concrete masonry building had 14 individual rooms and two double rooms for the children and included separate recreation rooms for buys and girls, a full kitchen, a dining room with a raised roof and facilities for conversion to a gymnasium, library, interview room and supervisors’ area. The rear of the property provided a fenced-in playground and parking facilities.
The original budget in 1962 was $95,000. By December 1963 the estimated cost of the project was $100,000. Funds were approrpiated by the 1961 General Assembly.
On April 30, 1964 Judge Margaret C. Driscoll announced the building would be named ‘Mead Hall’ in honor of Stanley P. Mead of New Canaan, the first judge of the First District Juvenile Court for the State of Connecticut, who had retired in 1960.
The facility opened Friday, May 1st 1964.
a class-action lawsuit filed in 1993 challenged the conditions in centers in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven.
A $17.2 million bond was approved August 25, 2005 to build a new detention center to replace Mead Hall, which critics said was housing up to 50 children at a time.
The result was a new juvenile detention facility designed by Jeter Cook Jepson/Ricci Greene Associates and completed by Turner Construction in 2008. The new building is down the road from the original facility, which is located at 790 Fairfield Avenue.
The building was demolished in
“A modern children’s receiving center today is a step nearer reality. We are fortunate to have obtained the services of so distinguished an architect for the first center.”
DRAWINGS - Design Drawings / Renderings
DRAWINGS - Construction Drawings
DRAWINGS - Shop Drawings
PHOTOS - Project Model
PHOTOS - During Construction
PHOTOS - Completed Project
PHOTOS - Current Conditions
LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION
RELATED DOWNLOADS
PROJECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Work Starts in the Fall on Youth Detention Home.” Bridgeport Post, January 28, 1962. p. 89
“State to Build Juvenile Home.” Bridgeport Post, December 13, 1962. p. 1, 4
“Pace Gets Contract For Juvenile Home.” Bridgeport Post, February 19, 1963. p. 4
“Event May 1 to Open New Juvenile Home.” Bridgeport Post, April 25, 1964. p. 23
“Juvenile Facility is Named in Tribute to Stanley Mead".” Bridgeport Post, April 30, 1964. p. 1, 2
“Juvenile Detention Center Receives Necessary Funds".” Pittsfield Berkshire Eagle, August 27, 2005. p. 15
“Detention Center Drawing Criticism.” The Berkshire Eagle, January 2, 2010. p. 10