Recently, our staff here at Stone Farm had a small company gathering at a local Newtown, CT restaurant in town called the Foundry Kitchen and Tavern. We chose this locale not only for the delicious cuisine, but also for the ambience. Why? It’s an antique structure, built with classic brick veneer–a product we truly love here at Stone Farm.
Foundry Kitchen and Tavern–Entrance
Looking at the back view from the banks of the Pootatuck River
Brick Veneer harkens back to its past as a structural element and the Foundry certainly has an interesting past. Formerly known as The Red Brick store in 1908, the building structurally changed very little over the past 100 years. It originated as the first general store here in Newtown, where Marilyn Monroe supposedly shopped on a regular basis. The bricks that make up this building were actually used as counterweights for ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England. The bricks were placed in the hull of the ships to weigh them down and thus keep them stabile during their voyage to America.
By the mid 1970’s, this building had changed hands several times, becoming a video store and then home to several restaurants. Along with the many changes this space has seen, there’s a belief shared by many locals that it could be haunted as well!
Are the hauntings a bit of New England lore? No one really knows…but what we DO know is that the look of classic brick veneer is timeless and that is certainly one reason why businesses in Connecticut still find this particular piece of architecture, the perfect spot for a bustling restaurant.
Brick became popular in the late 1900’s as a building material because many people found that it was far less expensive than other options available during that time. As an interior element, people chose to expose the brick in older homes as opposed to repairing or replacing the damaged plasterwork. Even back then, it was an accepted look. Today, we see it as less structural and more of a cool “skin”, that adds both weight and permanence, which is why we LOVE it as a choice of cladding. Bottom line, it shows taste, care and the timeless quality many people are looking for in both interior and exterior projects.
Brick bar scene.
New Vintage Style Lighting & Cool Old Brick
More stories to come from us here at Stone Farm on the topic of Classic Brick Veneer and why we love it so much. Here is a cool parting photo from the new exterior patio, complete with timeless old brick at the Foundry Kitchen and Tavern in Newtown, CT.
Outdoor patio at the Foundry
If you love the look and feel of classic brick, we also offer a lightweight thin brick veneer, which is essentially a full brick sliced thin for use in many interior applications. We currently stock our Blackstone Valley Blend, taken down from a mill built before 1910. The colors consist of a mix that ranges from ‘standard reds’, ‘darks’ and ‘whites’. We mix them in a fixed percentage of each to keep a consistent look.
We are hoping that all of this information sparks your interest and creativity! We look forward to hearing from you so we can help set your design plans in motion!
Check out recent projects using our thin brick veneer here – https://stonefarmliving.com/project-areas/interior/wall-veneer/