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<\/a>Former White Tower Restaurant at 123 East Main Street, Waterbury, Connecticut. Photograph taken by Geoffrey Rossano, 2001.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Documentation studies are generated when a federal or state-funded project has to take into account its affects on historical archeaological resources. The studies document the “before” structure or when changes in the structure mitigate adverse effects of changing or destroying the building. If the building is considered irreplaceable or very important historically then the State Historic Preservation Office decides whether or not to allow the project to proceed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/dt>\n- White Tower Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1930 (as the Waterbury restaurant would have looked in its heyday)<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\nIndustrial historian Geoffrey Rossano conducted a historical overview and assessment of current conditions of the former White Tower Restaurant, built in 1935,\u00a0in Waterbury, Connecticut, in August 2001.\u00a0 The report gives extensive information not only about this particular property in Waterbury, but also shows how the property was significant to the formation of White Tower restaurants (a copycat from the more famous White Castle chain), and to the history of fast-food service in the United States.\u00a0 The survey tells us about the history of the neighborhood of East Main Street, and how the structure, possibly the last surviving example in the U.S. when the study was done in 2001,\u00a0was an example of\u00a0 “the ‘kitschy’ vernacular commercial architecture that has appeared throughout the [20th] century.”\u00a0<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\nMy fellow librarian Norma Holmquist, who works at the UConn Waterbury campus library, verified for me that the old White Tower building at 123 East Main Street is no longer standing.\u00a0 Thanks, Norma!\u00a0 Located on that spot is the Coop bookstore for the UConn Waterbury campus library (that information is courtesy of\u00a0Janet Swift, another Waterbury campus librarian — thanks, Janet!).\u00a0<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\nThis documentation study is just one of hundreds in the CHPC, with historical details about many properties that held a special place in their towns and cities across the state.\u00a0 For more information about the contents of the collection, visit the listing at http:\/\/chpc.lib.uconn.edu\/<\/a>.<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\nLaura Smith, Curator for Business, Railroad and Labor Collection<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few sources as rich in information about the state’s historical properties as the\u00a0Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection (CHPC).\u00a0 While its\u00a0architectural surveys for about two-thirds of\u00a0Connecticut’s 169 towns and over 1800 archaeological surveys are worthy of discussion, the documentation studies … Continue reading
- White Tower Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1930 (as the Waterbury restaurant would have looked in its heyday)<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n