A Brief History of the BuildingThe Capewell Lofts building began its life as a horseshoe nail manufacturing factory owned by the Capewell Horse Nail Company (founded January 17, 1881). In the past, horse nails were made by hand—a long and difficult process. Capewell machines were able to produce over a hundred nails per minute and had safety features capable of shutting down production if they sensed interference with the progress. Capewell nails quickly became a dominant brand, hugely popular across the globe: the king of England, czar of Russia, and leading Japanese veterinarians all relied on Capewell nails for their horses.
The original Capewell building was badly damaged in a fire on July 2, 1902, but with nails salvaged from the ruins and the nails they had in storage, the company was able to remain in business. Construction on the second—and current—incarnation of the building began January 10, 1903 and was finished in the spring. In March of 1936, the building was threatened again, this time by the flooding of the Connecticut River. It took months of hard work to pump out the ten feet of water from the building and get the machines working once more. The Capewell Factory produced over 400 types and sizes of nails, but as horses lost popularity as forms of transportation they began to branch out into new business ventures. Merging with the Fowler and Union Horse Nail Company to become the Capewell Manufacturing Company and then acquiring the Hartford Drop Forge Company, they began to produce metal cutting saws and drop forges. During World War II, the company developed and produced multiple new items of parachute hardware. In 1981, production ceased and the building was abandoned. For years it remained an eyesore and a hazard, despite several attempts to redevelop the site. The Corporation for Independent Living (CIL) acquired the property April 1, 2014 with the plan to turn the old factory into the Capewell Lofts. |
Unique Challenges
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Converting an old factory to modern lofts poses several
challenges not faced when building an entirely new complex. While using an existing
structure cuts down on the amount of materials needed while saving these
materials from being scrapped, old construction methods were often not sustainably
minded. Capewell’s brick walls made it difficult to install the modern
insulation that would decrease the need for air conditioning and heating, and
the asbestos that was used for fire resistance and electric insulation is now
recognized as a health hazard and needed to be removed.
However, demolishing the building to reuse the lot would have resulted in several of the same problems, with the added cost and carbon impact of transporting the old material out and new material in. That plus the historic significance of the Capewell Building helped make the decision to preserve the existing structure while upgrading the building to a modern living space. |