1922 Carriage House Once Home to Theatre Fairfield
1073 N Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824
Research updated June 2026
Age
Active college campus
Cost
Free
Campus is publicly accessible; the former PepsiCo Theatre building has been converted to the School of Engineering Innovation Annex and is no longer in theatrical use.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved campus walkways
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1922 · Walter Lashar Estate · Jesuit University · Former Carriage House
Fairfield University was founded in 1942 by the Society of Jesus on land that had previously been the Walter Lashar estate. The estate's nineteenth- and early twentieth-century outbuildings, including a 1922 carriage house, were absorbed into the new campus.
The carriage house was renovated into the PepsiCo Theatre, which served as the home for Theatre Fairfield. The space included a 70-seat flexible black-box theatre, a dance studio, a design studio, a coffeehouse, and a costume shop. It hosted the theatre program's productions for several decades.
In 2022, the building was repurposed as the Innovation Annex for the School of Engineering. Theatre Fairfield now operates from other campus venues, including spaces in the Quick Center for the Arts.
Sources
Theatre Fairfield students and faculty maintained a long-standing oral tradition about Minerva Farrell, identified in campus folklore as a former costume designer whose presence remained associated with the PepsiCo Theatre. Reports collected in student publications described hearing voices in empty rehearsal spaces, footsteps in upper-floor areas, and a sense of company during late-night solo work in the costume shop.
The accounts circulated within the Theatre Fairfield community as part of working-space lore rather than as a marketed haunting. The university has not promoted the story publicly, and no historical society or local newspaper has documented a specific person matching the description; Hauntbound presents it as folklore.
With the carriage house's conversion to the Innovation Annex in 2022, the building no longer functions as a theatre space, and first-hand reporting on the Minerva story has effectively ended.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The PepsiCo Theatre was housed in a renovated 1922 carriage house on the Fairfield University campus. The space has since been converted to the School of Engineering Innovation Annex; Theatre Fairfield now operates from other campus venues. View the historic carriage house exterior from public campus walkways.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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