Torrington Chamber of Commerce Building (1916)

James E. Mallette came to Torrington as a stable boy and ended up becoming a leading real estate developer and financier. In 1916, he built the structure at 56-66 Main Street (next to the Warner Theatre) for the Chamber of Commerce, of which he was president. Today, the building is home to the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, which has restored and expanded the building, adding a new facade on the first floor.

The Yankee Pedlar Inn (1891)

After staying at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington while he was filming The House of the Devil (2009), horror film director Ti West heard some of the ghost stories associated with the historic hotel. He was inspired to make an independent movie filmed at and revolving around the inn. Called The Innkeepers, it opened in theaters last week.

The Yankee Pedlar Inn opened in 1891 on the corner Main Street and Maiden Lane in Torrington. Originally known as the Conley Inn, it was built by an Irish immigrant named Frank Conley and his wife Alice. Designed by architect Robert Wakeman Hill, the four-story building was constructed of pallet brick, trimmed with Vermont Marble. Known for its comfort and elegance, the hotel became a popular and successful establishment. The Conleys managed the hotel until they died in 1910 and their niece, Mary Tryon, sold it two years later. It then passed through various owners and was expanded in 1918-1920. In 1940, the Yankee Pedlar restaurant and bar was added and entire hotel became known as the Yankee Pedlar Inn in 1956. (more…)

Center Congregational Church, Torrington (1867)

Center Congregational Church, at 155 Main Street in Torrington, was originally known as the Third Congregational Church of Torrington. It was established in what was then known as Wolcottville, a village that later became the center of Torrington. As related in The Torrington Register Souvenir Edition. An Illustrated and Descriptive Exposition of Torrington, Connecticut, 1897:

The Third Congregational Church is so named, not as many strangers suppose because there are two others in the borough, but because it is the third Congregational church formed in the town, the one in West Torrington being the oldest and the one in Torringford being the next in age. The Torringford church was formed because of the deep swamp which its people had to traverse to get to the First Church. The third came into being in later times because the petitioners alleged that they must either ascend a hill of 630 feet to go to Torringford, or one-half as high to go to the First Church. The building of the First Church was then up on the hills toward Goshen. A debt of gratitude is due to Capt. Uri Taylor, who gave the land and built thereon a Congregational meeting-house before the church was organized. Later on, he added to his gift a parsonage and lot. The ecclesiastical society was formed Dec. 3, 1829, and the Church was organized July 11, 1832, with twenty-nine members. This was at a time when the population of the village numbered about 500. The meeting-house built in 1828 was remodeled in 1844, by running a floor under the gallery. The present building of stone was erected in 1866[-1867] at the cost of great sacrifice on the part of the members. The Chapel was built in 1880.

The church was expanded to its present size in 1900 and was renamed Center Congregational Church. The church was burned by arsonists in January 1979. The interior was destroyed, but the granite walls survived. The church was restored and reopened in October 1980.

Allen Building, Torrington (1930)

The Allen Building in Torrington is an Art Deco commercial structure, occupying a prominent location, at the corner of Main and East Main Streets in the city’s downtown. The building, designed by Torrington architect William E. Hunt (who designed other art deco buildings in Torrington), was constructed in two sections. First came the north part, on Main Street, in 1930. It was built next door to the Allen House, a wood-frame hotel erected in the nineteenth century. After the hotel was damaged in a 1934 fire, it was demolished and replaced, in 1935, by an extension of the Allen Building that wraps around the corner of East Main Street.

St. Peter Church, Torrington (1928)

St. Peter parish in Torrington was formed in 1907, when Bishop Michael A. Tierney named Father Joachim C. Martinez as pastor to the city’s Italian immigrants. Beginning in a basement chapel on Center Street, the parish later faced closure, but a parish committee successfully appealed for the restoration of a permanent pastor in 1914. The parish then expanded, building a new church at 107 East Main Street in 1927-1928 and opening a parish school in 1956, which combined with St. Francis School in 2005.