by Jude Mead

In 1902 the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department and the council of the Royal Arcanum decided to work together to build a structure that could house both institutions. The NVFD needed somewhere fireproof in the center of town to keep their equipment. The members of the Royal Arcanum needed a place for their meetings. The word arcanum means “secret” or “mystery” and was a fitting name for this private fraternal benefit society. The society was founded by Dr. Darius Wilson in the late 19th century with the intention of protecting its members from financial hardship by offering health insurance. 

This exclusive society was active in Norfolk in the late 1800s and, along with financial help, provided its members with leadership, social, educational, spiritual, patriotic and scholarship services. People with good moral character who believed in a supreme being could be recruited. Mostly, though, its members were businessmen. This group pulled together their resources and bought the property at the northeast corner of Station Place to build the elaborate structure. They then hired the architect Alfredo S. G. Taylor to design a multipurpose building in the center of town.

Construction began in 1904. Taylor combined Romanesque and Chateauesque elements in the large brick and stone structure. It stands three stories plus an attic high and is over 13,000 square feet. The ground floor has five large round arches. The wall pattern is red and green brickwork with a variety of arched and rectangular windows on each floor. A slate roof was added with gables and peaked dormers. There was even a hose tower for the fire department along the east end with a fire bell donated by Frederick Shepard.

Taylor used decorative terra-cotta panels above the entrance, where the name Royal Arcanum can be seen in white and buff lettering on a blue background. The initials V.M.C. are located on either side of the entrance door and stand for Virtue, Mercy and Charity, the principles on which the Royal Arcanum was based.

Taylor’s idea was to have places for commercial businesses on the first floor and meeting rooms for the Royal Arcanum Council and for the Masonic Lodge on the second and third floors. The building also had to have enough room to store fire apparatus for the fire department. Upon completion of the building in 1906, many businesses moved in, including C. E. Barnes meat market, the New England Telephone Company and the post office. The most exciting and welcome addition to the building was perhaps George Johnson’s drugstore and soda fountain. Harry Cook purchased the drugstore from Johnson in 1939. He then sold it in 1951 to Joseph Pallone. The Royal Arcanum building remained in the Pallone family until its recent sale to the Norfolk Foundation.

More information can be found in Ann Havemeyer’s “An Architect of Place and the Village Beautiful: Alfredo Taylor in Norfolk, Connecticut,” available at the Norfolk Library.