Fireplace gem awaiting restoration, perhaps in its old Norwich Hospital location

Preston - Town officials facing a monumental task of cleaning up and demolishing dozens of dilapidated buildings on the former Norwich Hospital campus now have a new challenge - a giant jigsaw puzzle.

The Administrative Building in the heart of the campus could be the only building left standing on the sprawling 390-acre campus. The building is solid, with a grand front lobby and central marble-veneer staircase. It was the first building constructed a century ago for the mental illness institution.

The hospital superintendent's corner office was dominated by a large fireplace with an ornate tile façade depicting two Charter Oak trees flanking the Connecticut state seal. Hardwood arches rose above the mantel to the ceiling.

But when Preston took ownership of the hospital campus in 2009, they found crumbled bricks surrounding the fireplace and shadowy marks on the wall where wooden arches should have been.

Eventually, they learned that crews from the state Department of Public Works had carefully dismantled the tile façade, numbered each piece, packed it in foam and wrapped it with duct tape. Then they took the piles of tiles to the former Mystic Oral School in Groton for safe keeping.

There they sat for years. On Monday, town Public Works Foreman Bob Boyd drove to the school and brought the tile pieces and wooden arches "home."

Department of Administrative Services officials will give Preston a much-needed map showing how to reassemble the puzzle - but not yet, Preston Redevelopment Agency Chairman Sean Nugent said.

The pieces will be kept in storage at an undisclosed town location until the Administration Building is poised for restoration. The building would qualify for federal historic preservation tax credits if a developer can be found to tackle the project.

If not, First Selectman Robert Congdon said, the fireplace still will survive.

"I think it's important that that piece of history gets preserved," Congdon said. "That either can be done through the preservation of the Administration Building or, if that doesn't happen, the fireplace still has to be preserved at a museum or some other place to preserve the history of this facility. I'm glad the state agreed to return it to us. We are in the best position to take care of it."

c.bessette@theday.com