Miss Porters
Established in 1843, the Miss Porter’s School campus is centered just south of the Farmington River. A private day and boarding school serving 350 girls, grades 9- 12, is integrated into the Town of Farmington. Many of the streets connect to other neighborhoods surrounding the campus. The campus itself retains the Town character, with stately homes, open lawns, and connective walks. Prior to 2014, the Admissions Building was located along Green Street, with minimal access and parking. With the donation of the Grist Mill on the banks of the Farmington River, Miss Porter’s undertook the renovation of the building to transform it into their new Admissions Building.
The Grist Mill building was built in 1690 to process grain for the Town. Heavy timber framing, wood shingles, gabled roof, and piers which extended into a river bypass channel has charmed many over the past 300 years. Since the 17th Century, the structure has taken on many uses including a residence, a gold leafing shop, fabric stores, a gallery, a bookstore, and small café. In its most recent iteration, the mill was a restaurant called the Grist Mill. In 2014 the property was sold and donated to Miss Porter’s School, which bordered the property to the East, West, and South.
The design team preserved many of the historic features and building character in the renovation. Many of the beams and much of the structure was left exposed on the interior to showcase the building’s heritage. Updates in the interior included new energy efficient windows, salvaged wood flooring, updating the heating and cooling systems, and updating the restrooms and offices. The exterior of the site was transformed from one continuous asphalt parking lot into an arrival garden with an accessible walk. Monumental granite stairs connect the building’s new main entrance to an upper parking lot. A unitized paver walk connects ADA spaces to the front entrance. A raised planter filled with groundcovers, bulbs, and shrubs frame views out to the river. The paved plaza is sized to hold events. An ornamental rail is repurposed and expanded at the edge of the terrace. Adjacent to the plaza, a large lawn sized for event tents will serve as a destination for School celebrations. Between the upper and lower lots, a steep slope of evergreen junipers provides a contrast to the warm purples and red tones of the pavers. The plantings at the school have been selected to change throughout the seasons, and showcase color and texture during school events.
Underneath this refined landscape, lie a bevy of existing utilities serving the town. The placement of steps, walls, and pavements had to be orchestrated to avoid impacting the Town’s sewer main just 18” below grade. As a project within the floodplain, each square foot of fill for the accessible walk had to be replaced with compensatory storage on site. Overall the project reduces the square footage of impervious surface onsite—transforming much of the asphalt into permeable paving and garden areas. Several stormcepter treatment devices treat sediment and oil coming from the upslope parking lots and improve water quality downstream.
The best time of day to visit the Grist Mill is just before sunset. Herons fish in the Farmington River below against backlit trees with golden dappled light. It is quiet and restful as the sound of moving water fills the space. Sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs, feet in lawn or on the plaza, one feels grounded—with the anchoring of the slope to your back, and a prospecting view of the river beyond as it carves its way through historic channels heading east.
