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UConn Donors Honored for Preserving Litchfield Farm

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Grace Merritt

3 min read

 

The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation recently honored UConn donors George Malkemus and Anthony Yurgaitis, who, along with their Arethusa Farm, have raised more than $522,000 to support scholarships for students in UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources.

Malkemus and Yurgaitis received the special Trustees’ Award for Stewardship for their reclamation and reactivation of the Litchfield-based farm.

With help from UConn’s agriculture experts, they have built an internationally renowned herd and dairy business that includes a line of premium dairy products, as well as Arethusa al Tavolo Restaurant and Arethusa a Mano bakery in Bantam.

Photos of Manolo Blahnik shoes taken Monday, November 6, 2017 at the UConn Foundation in Storrs. (G.J. McCarthy / UConn Foundation)

Malkemus and Yurgaitis are also the top leaders of the Manolo Blahnik shoe company, and have raised $522,202 for College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources scholarships since 2015, with sample sales of the high-end shoes at reduced prices at special events statewide as recently as February at UConn Storrs.

The historic stewardship award recognizes their work to preserve 300 acres of agricultural land at Arethusa Farm with numerous historic houses and barns, and to rehabilitate historic commercial buildings in the village of Bantam.

At the same awards event, the Trust gave a prestigious historic preservation award honoring UConn’s work to restore the long-shuttered downtown Hartford Times building for its new downtown campus.

The Trust for Historic Preservation presented an Award of Merit this month to the University and the contractors who worked on the facade of the building, which has housed the UConn Hartford campus since summer 2017.

“The restoration demonstrates that preserving civic buildings can help revitalize Connecticut’s cities, while promoting interest in their history and culture,” the organization said in the announcement of its award, which was presented to UConn in early April.

The structure and its Beaux-Arts facade were built in 1920 to house the Hartford Times, becoming a downtown landmark whose visitors over the decades included four U.S. presidents who spoke from its terrace to crowds amassed on Prospect Street.

The newspaper closed in 1976, and the building was used for a time by the City of Hartford, but had been vacant and in increasingly poor condition before UConn signed agreements in 2014 to move operations from its West Hartford campus to the downtown site.

With its soaring granite columns, marble steps, and massive oak doors – all salvaged from a Manhattan church by the original architect, Donn Barber – the Hartford Times facade and portico were still impressive, albeit in dire need of restoration and stabilization.

UConn hired Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP, a renowned architectural firm headed by Robert A.M. Stern, former dean of the Yale of School of Architecture, to design the complex project.

 

A section of the mural on the Hartford Times Building on May 7, 2015. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

It included not only determining how to return the old Hartford Times facade to its former glory, but also designing a roughly 140,000-square-foot addition that would complement the neoclassical design while providing modern-day features and amenities needed by a world-class research university.

 

The work also included stabilizing the facade and intricate murals on the portico walls, and repairing and replacing brick, granite and terracotta in several places as needed. The University and the architects were so committed to authenticity that they even replaced broken or missing roof tiles with the same kind of curved Spanish tiles – still made by the same company – that were used in the original construction.

“We are grateful for all the interest and support we received from the State, the City of Hartford, and neighboring institutions and businesses that made this restoration possible,” says Laura Cruickshank, UConn’s university architect. “Everyone worked together, and the result is a restored iconic building that houses a vibrant academic program.”

In addition to the University of Connecticut and RAMSA, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation Merit Award also honors the partners with whom they worked on the project: HB Nitkin Group; Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.; Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.; Robert A.M. Stern Interiors; Robert Silman Associates; Kohler Ronan LLC; BSC Group; Haley & Aldrich Inc.; Atelier Ten; ABD Engineering & Design Inc.; Philip R. Sherman; Page/SST Planners; and Ricca Design Studios.

 

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The Arethusa Sample Sale Is Back!

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Suzanne Morrissey

2 min read

Once again this summer, the popular Arethusa Shoe Sale will take place in Bantam, Conn., to benefit scholarships for UConn students.

Shoe lovers can expect deep discounts at the sale on Saturday, August 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bantam Fire Company, 92 Doyle Road in Bantam, Conn. Proceeds go directly to the Arethusa Farm Scholarship Fund, which aids students at UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources (CAHNR). Arethusa executives George Malkemus and Anthony Yurgaitis established the fund after they bought Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, Conn. With help from UConn’s agriculture experts, they have built an internationally renowned herd and dairy business that includes a line of premium dairy products as well as Arethusa al Tavolo Restaurant and Arethusa a Mano bakery in Bantam.

At the sale, fashionistas will find a mix of past seasons’ items and samples from fashion shows, movie sets, and ad shoots. A wide range of sizes will be available. At the 2015 sale, excited shoppers took home luxury-brand flats, stilettos, pumps, and boots at bargain prices—and raised nearly $200,000 for the scholarship fund.

“The value of this fundraising opportunity cannot be overstated,” said Cameron Faustman, Interim Dean and Director of the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources. “For students pursuing dairy-related interests at the University of Connecticut, this scholarship program will provide a means for accomplishing their academic and career goals while minimizing their need to work long hours outside of their studies or to take on debt. It also will facilitate our ability to attract and retain students committed to the field and ensure a continued supply of fresh and local dairy products for the state.”

Steven Zinn, professor and head of UConn’s Department of Animal Science, agreed: “This scholarship opens doors to a UConn education for the next generation of dairy producers in Connecticut, helping maintain this critical industry in the state.”

UConn students will be on hand to help direct traffic, and entry into the sale is first come, first served. Credit cards and cash will be accepted. The samples are not to be purchased for resale, and all sales are final.

For more information about the sale, call Amy Chesmer at (860) 336-6706.

Learn more about supporting scholarships at UConn’s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources.

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Manolo Blahnik Shoe Sale to Benefit UConn Students

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Jack Kramer

< 1 min read

The Manolo Blahnik shoe sale has become a summer must for shoe lovers near and far away. This year, for the first time, proceeds will benefit UConn agriculture students.

The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 15 at the Bantam Fire Company at 92 Doyle Road in Bantam, Conn. It benefits the Arethusa Farm Scholarship Fund, which will aid UConn agriculture students who need help paying for their education.

The shoe sale comes at the same time the UConn Foundation is in the midst of its “Transform Lives” initiative that aims to double the amount of financial support—including merit and need-based scholarships—that the Foundation raises for the benefit of the UConn student body.

“Tony Yurgaitis and George Malkemus have been very supportive of Connecticut agriculture,” said Dean and Director of the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources Gregory J. Weidemann. “This scholarship makes an investment in Connecticut agriculture by ensuring the opportunity for future generations of students to support this vital industry through education.”

“The owners of Arethusa Farm have established a world-renowned facility for the production of purebred dairy cattle and dairy products,” added Cameron Faustman, Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Associate Dean for Research at the Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture. “Investing in human capital in this manner is consistent with the owners’ longstanding commitment to excellence in everything that they have undertaken.”

 

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