Bristol Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School

QA+M Architecture | Bristol, CT
Areial image of the Memorial Boulevard Intradistrict Arts Magnet School at night.

Originally constructed in 1921, the Memorial Boulevard School is a landmark 96,000 square-foot building in the heart of downtown Bristol. The former school is an iconic building situated on Memorial Boulevard Park which serves as the gateway to the City center. The City of Bristol revived this vacant four-story facility – formerly Bristol High School – into a performing arts magnet school for grades 6-12. Benesch worked in association with the architect to provide site/civil engineering services for the school.

The historic school, at the intersection of Willis and South Street and Memorial Boulevard, was fully renovated and had a 23,010 SF addition added, while maintaining the aesthetics of the historic building and accommodating the needs of the new school program.

Willis Street was discontinued and merged with the school property to provide the necessary setbacks for the building addition. Located within the 100-year and 500-year floodplains of the Pequabuck River, the project required substantial local and state permitting. Benesch prepared the Flood Management Certificates and obtained all the permits from CT DEEP and the City of Bristol. Civil engineering services also included site grading and drainage plans, traffic analysis, utility design (water, storm drainage, natural gas, electric), and erosion and sedimentation control design.

Benesch also incorporated the master plan for the entire park area, including the addition of bicycle shared lanes within the Memorial Boulevard.