The Colt Armory is the architectural centrepiece of Coltsville, the factory complex and workers' village that Samuel Colt built in the 1850s on the South Meadows along the Connecticut River. The main building is immediately recognisable by its extraordinary blue onion dome, decorated with gold stars and topped with a rampant colt — a piece of Victorian industrial theatre that made the factory one of the most distinctive buildings in New England.
At its peak, the Colt complex employed thousands of workers and was the largest private armoury in the world, producing the revolvers and rifles that defined American firearms in the 19th century. Colt also built worker housing, a church, a social hall, and park grounds — an early attempt at a company town. The complex is now a National Historic Park, with portions of the old factory converted into apartments and arts spaces. The exterior and grounds are open to explore; check with Coltsville National Historical Park for tours of the interior.