Timex Headquarters in Connecticut Threatened by Warehouse Development

The passage of time and time telling has fascinated humans since time immemorial. The creation of places for telling and marking the passage of time is an ancient practice steeped in ritual, tradition, myth, and mystery – think of Stonehenge, the elaborate calendar system of the Maya, and the sundials of the Egyptians. A corporate campus in Middlebury, CT, created for Timex, once known as the world’s largest manufacture of watches, uses geology, landscape architecture, and architecture to create a physical manifestation of the heritage of time keeping. That site, which opened in 2001, is now threatened with demolition and replacement with warehouses (reminiscent of what happened with the Weyerhaeuser campus in Federal Way, WA).

History

The collaboration of a visionary patron, a landscape architect, and an architect can yield a standout cultural site; such is the case at the Timex headquarters with its patron, Thomas Fredrik (“Fred”) Olsen (born 1929), subject of the 2015 Fortune magazine profile “The crazy, true-life adventures of Norway’s most radical billionaire,” working in tandem with landscape architect Jack Curtis + Associates, and architect Douglas Disbrow of Fletcher Tompson, Inc.

Timex is part of a long tradition of clockmaking in Connecticut dating to the 1770s; the company traces its early corporate history to the Waterbury Clock Company, which began in 1854 as a branch of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company in Waterbury. Various iterations of the company thrived, nose-dived, and resurrected. In the 1880s pocket watches were growing in popularity; wrist watches were introduced in the early twentieth century. Competition from Swiss manufacturers in the 1920s followed by the Great Depression put pressure on the industry nationwide. The year 1933 saw new ownership for the Waterbury Clock Company, the end of its clock production line, and a strategic partnership with Walt Disney Enterprises to manufacture watches featuring Disney characters. According to a National Register of Historic Places nomination, by 1936, “the Mickey Mouse watch had reportedly become the official timekeeper of two million children.”

The National Register nomination also notes: “The company would enter a new era of Norwegianownership in February 1941, when Thomas Fredrik Olsen purchased 75,556 shares for $500,000 which gave majority control to Olsen who became chairman of the Waterbury Clock Company Board. ... In December 1943, the company’s shareholders changed the name to The United States Time Corporation (U.S. Time). ... U.S. Time officially trademarked the “Timex” name brand in October 1945. Olsen’s coined portmanteau was derived from combining the brand names of Time magazine and Kleenex. ... By 1966, Timex electric watches became the world’s best-selling watch. The company officially changed its name to Timex Corporation on July 1, 1969.” The company’s permutations and evolution are intricately detailed in the nomination and emblematic of the efforts businesses made in the ensuing decades to adapt to market demands and global competition by diversifying and straying far from their manufacturing-based roots.

The present Timex corporate headquarters was created on land purchased from the IBM Corporation in 1997, and is centered on a drumlin, a large oval-shaped hillock formed by ancient glacial action. The building architecture, which celebrates timekeeping and watchmaking, affords its inhabitants 360-degree views of the surrounding fields, meadows and forests. The National Register nomination states: “The landscape architecture and building generate a sense of community and connection to the natural environment through integrated design.” The 85,000-square-foot building and its landscape architecture occupies a 93-acre site; it opened in 2001 and cost $23 million.

Image

Of note, the landscape architecture and architecture are subordinate to the broader site. As stated in the nomination: “The building features a long rectangular plan with convex south-facing façade, a vaulted dome roof with an oculus, and walls of transparent insulated glass which allow for a panoramic exterior view of the site. Constructed to match the contour of the site’s natural drumlin, or ridge, the lower level of the building is set 15-feet below grade. This allows for the building’s low profile and reflective exterior wall glazing system to appear as an organic element of the surrounding natural landscape; the building appears as a one-story structure from most vantage points.”

Image

It continues: “A parking lot for employees and visitors on the southwestern side of Timex Road was purposefully sited 0.25-mi from the building’s entrance to ensure that employees would benefit from exercise each day. The parking area is positioned at an elevation below the tree line to preserve the site’s view and natural setting. As designed, the parking lot blends into the natural wooded landscape. A tree perimeter and surrounding woods enclose the three-tiered parking lot. Two rows of trees divide the parking lot sections and further buffers the area from view. The parking lot was designed to be invisible to both the employees working in the building and passersby, blending the corporate campus into its natural surroundings.”

“Prominently sited along the pathway to the building, “Woodhenge” is a historical time-telling device consisting of a circle of 15-ft tall wooden posts that line up with the sun at certain times of the year ... Granite markers embedded in the ground identify the appropriate station point for alignment with the center pole and a perimeter pole signifying the sun’s position at sunrise or sunset for the dates associated with solstices and equinoxes.”

Image

The sophistication, refinement, and reverential nature of the landscape architecture by Jack Curtis is likely influenced by his time working for Arthur Edwin Bye, Jr., whose subtle designs consciously enhanced the natural form of the landscape through the addition or subtraction of existing natural features and the physical molding of earth. Curtis spent five years in the Bye’s Greenwich, CT, office before teaming up with colleagues Arthur Selbert and Stanley Hunts, to found the firm Landplan Partnership in Southport, CT, for which Curtis served as a principal for twelve years. In 1984 he established his own practice, Jack Curtis + Associates, in Monroe, CT, which he operated until his retirement in 2015.

Curtis’ career encompassed a wide range of projects, including corporate headquarters, city plazas, government facilities, university campuses, and private residences. Among his most notable designs was the Cummins corporate headquarters in Columbus, IN. He developed a longstanding relationship with Cummins, designing the grounds for the company’s technical center and Engine Plant One, among other projects. Other work in the Columbus area included the restoration of the Irwin Garden and the design of the Columbus Area Visitors Center. In 1999 Curtis worked with Xenia Miller to improve and restore the iconic Miller Garden, also in Columbus (and now in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art), replacing the site’s redbud grove with crab apple trees and restoring the honey locust allée. The garden, originally designed by Dan Kiley in 1957, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Curtis’ other commissions included the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the General Foods World Headquarters, both in New York, and the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in Washington, D.C.

Threat

In November 2022, an application was filed with “Middlebury Conservation Commission (“Conservation Commission”) to conduct regulated activities associated with the development of a 720,000 square foot warehousing facility.” In January 2023 the Middlebury Small Town Alliance announced a fundraising campaign to oppose the redevelopment of the Timex campus into a distribution center. In April 2023 press reports surfaced about local opposition for razing the Timex headquarters and replacing it with a 720,000-square-foot warehouse complex called Southford Park; the application to the Conservation Commission was approved in May.  

In 2023 the Timex headquarters site was sold for $7.5 million to Drubner Equities & Atlantic Management Corporation, operating as Southford Park, LLC. In August of that year they filed for a permit to build a 670,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution complex on 77 acres. On April 17, 2024, the Middlebury Small Town Alliance “filed two applications to intervene in both the Planning and Zoning and Conservation Commission permit modification applications for Southford Park.” On September 30, 2024, the non-profit group Save Historic Middlebury, Inc., submitted affidavits to support the National Register nomination and a few months later on November 8 announced they filed suit to prevent the campus’ demolition; this was withdrawn on December 3. 

The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Superior Court Case Look-up offers a detailed blow-by-blow of briefs, motions, and orders. Here are the decisions that merit attention: On January 31, 2025, the Superior Court Judicial District of Waterbury ruled in favor of the Middlebury Small Town Alliance and against the Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission and the Middlebury Conservation Commission, both of which supported the warehouse development plan. An appeal to that decision, known as a "petition for certification," was filed on March 12, 2025; on May 1, 2025, the petition was granted by the Appellate Court. A report about the "petition for certification" in CTInsider states the appeal process could take ten to fourteen months.

What you can do to help

Support the work of the Middlebury Small Town Alliance and Save Historic Middlebury, Inc.; and contact the Middlebury First Selectman, Department of Planning and Zoning, and Conservation Commission:

Middlebury Small Town Alliance
P.O. Box 1073
Middlebury, CT 06762
E: middlebury.small.town.alliance@gmail.com 

Save Historic Middlebury, Inc.
P.O. Box 1320
Middlebury, CT 06762
E: participate@shmiddlebury.org  

Edward St. John, First Selectman
Board of Selectmen
Town of Middlebury
1212 Whittemore Road
Middlebury, CT 06762
T: (475) 473-3352
E: firstselectman@middlebury-ct.org 

Paul Bowler, Chair
Debbie Seavey, Conservation Enforcement Officer
Conservation Commission
Town of Middlebury
1212 Whittemore Road
Middlebury, CT 06762
T: 203-577-4162
F: 203-598-7640
E: dseavey@middlebury-ct.org  

Terry Smith, Chair
Department of Planning and Zoning
Town of Middlebury
1212 Whittemore Road
Middlebury, CT 06762
T: 203-577-4162
E: pandz@middlebury-ct.org