Once referred to as a “rabbit warren”, this adaptive reuse project exceeds sustainability and accessibility standards and is a vibrant, modern, 21st-century workplace built to carry the building’s 20th century grandeur into the 22nd. 

The Connecticut State Office Building is located in downtown Hartford’s historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1931 office building houses the State of Connecticut’s attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, and their staff. Employees and visitors referred to the interior as “a rabbit warren, with offices within offices, within offices.” Architects confronted multiple infrastructure challenges, as the beautiful neoclassical Indiana limestone building, while structurally sound, required replacement of internal systems, including 90-year-old plumbing, steam boilers, and removal of 370 window air-conditioners. Designers were challenged to improve sustainability and accessibility standards and create a vibrant, modern, 21st-century workplace built to carry the building’s 20th century grandeur into the 22nd.

A new two-story glass curtain wall defines a grand, new, accessible public entrance, providing transparency into the lobby with lines of sight extending through two additional glass walls opening to the building’s courtyards. The front of the building was shifted from north to east to use the site’s natural slope for accessibility. The courtyards—once inaccessible from the ground floor—were raised 6 feet. They now open to the cafeteria and meeting rooms at ground level, allowing for outdoor dining and indoor/outdoor meetings.

The main entrance leads to a new double-height lobby characterized by marble walls, a grand stair connecting the two levels, and a bridge across the upper level. The lobby now matches the scale and grandeur of the building’s exterior. Other existing spaces with a great deal of character were faithfully restored to their original condition per the Historic Preservation Commission standards.

The rest of the building’s former labyrinthine interior was demolished. Workplaces designed specifically for the agencies that occupy them and their particular balance of focus work and collaboration now fill the seven-story, 350,000-square-foot office. High ceilings and exposed ductwork lend a contemporary feel to the civic building with nods to its history when suitable such as exposing the original terra cotta floor formwork and brick walls where possible.

With ailing windows replaced with double-pane replicas, asbestos and lead paint abated, and every building system overhauled or replaced, the building now meets the USGBC’s standards for LEED® silver, and Connecticut’s strict High Performance Building energy efficiency requirements.