Avon Old Farms

The school's conception dates to a few years before 1918 when Riddle purchased of land on which to build it. Together with the architect Charles A. Platt, she toured several boys' schools in New England, including Andover, Groton School, Hotchkiss School, Middlesex School, Pomfret School, St. Mark's School, and St. Paul's School, but as she wrote to a friend, "They all illustrate exceedingly well the things I wish to avoid." In 1918 she created the Pope-Brooks Foundation, to manage both her house, Hill-Stead and its artworks, and the as-yet unformed new school. The school's earliest days were marked by vigorous disagreements between Riddle and the school's board and members. She dismissed the board in 1926 when it refused to grant her absolute control and refused her dictum that "there will be no gymnasium and no indoor inter-school athletics." The school was then run directly by the Pope-Brooks foundation. ==Architecture==

Riddle designed the campus in the English Cotswold style, drawing on the Arts and Crafts movement. After a 1910 trip to England, she adopted 16th-century building methods and imported craftsmen from the Cotswolds to work alongside American laborers. Red sandstone was quarried on site, and Riddle established a blacksmith's forge on the campus to produce all hand-wrought hardware—hinges, latches, and lanterns—used throughout the buildings. Riddle instructed masons and carpenters to "dispense with all mechanical methods" and "gauge all verticals by sight," reasoning that "a natural variation in line and surface was far more desirable ... than accuracy." The resulting buildings have swooping slate roofs, irregularly placed dormers, and massive chimneys with textured stone walls. The campus is organized around two quadrangles—the Pope Quadrangle and the Brooks Quadrangle—along with a village green and a grouping of service buildings known as the Farm Group, which includes the Forge, the Water Tower, and the Chapel (originally the Carpenter's Shop, converted in 1948). File:Avon Old Farms School - chapel exterior.jpg|The chapel, originally the Carpenter's Shop, converted in 1948 File:Avon Old Farms School - Diogenes.jpg|Diogenes sculpture, a detail of the Pope Quadrangle ==Athletics==

Avon Old Farms is a member of the Founders League. The school fields 36 interscholastic teams across 15 varsity sports. Ice hockey Under head coach John Gardner, who coached at Avon Old Farms for 50 years beginning in 1975, the team won nine New England Prep Division I championships and 13 Founders League titles. Gardner compiled an 867–288–55 record, making him the winningest prep school hockey coach in New England history. On December 21, 2009, Avon Old Farms and Taft School played the first hockey game at Fenway Park, on the rink built for the 2010 NHL Winter Classic. Alumni of the hockey program who reached the NHL include Brian Leetch, Jonathan Quick, Nick Bonino, Cam Atkinson, Chris Higgins, Trevor Zegras, and Spencer Knight. Football In 2025, the football team won the NEPSAC Class A championship with a 10–0 record, capturing the Drew Gamere Bowl. ==Notable alumni==