Harris Whittemore

On a trip to Europe in 1888, Harris Whittemore asked for Theodate Pope’s hand in marriage. She declined but they remained friends. Self-taught and one of the country’s first female architects, Theodate would design her parents’ home, Hill-Stead, in Farmington and The Westover School in Middlebury.

In 1914 Harris Whittemore asked Theodate to design the new Union City School (later renamed Hop Brook) for the children of foreign laborers in the Union City section of Naugatuck. The school was unique with its separate kindergarten cottage, fireplaces and a playful “ABC” motif that was repeated throughout the building. Hop Brook welcomed its first class on September 6th, 1916.