Prospect Public Library – Meeting Place (1905)

I have just completed a building index (by address) for the buildings on this site that are in the Town of Prospect. The most recent entry for Prospect is today’s building, the former Prospect Public Library, which is constructed of fieldstone and was erected in 1905. Earlier private circulating libraries (the Cheshire Mountain Library and the Oxford Circulating Library) had existed in the community even before the incorporation of Prospect as a town in 1827. The Library Association was organized in 1886 and its books were first located at the home of its first librarian, Sarah Tallmadge, and then in the vestry of the Congregational Church. Efforts for the construction of a free public library led to the erection of the 1905 building, designed by F. E. Walters of Waterbury. The principle donors for the library were the Tuttle family of Naugatuck, descendants of Eben Clark Tuttle (1806-1873) who had begun manufacturing hoes in Prospect before moving to Naugatuck in 1851. The family also funded landscaping of the grounds around the building on Prospect Green. A new library building was erected in 1991 on the former site of the Petrauskas farm at 17 Center Street. The former library, located at 30 Center Street, was renamed the Meeting Place and is used for community purposes.

Odd Fellows Hall, East Hartford (1922)

The building at 989-993 Main Street in East Hartford was built c. 1850. It was known as the Garvan Block or the Odd Fellows Building/Odd Fellows Hall, because it was later owned by Crescent Lodge No. 25, International Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekah Lodge (the Daughters of Rebekah began as the female auxiliary of the IOOF). There was also a post office located in the building. The structure was damaged by a fire on May 28, 1922. As reported in the Hartford Courant on July 21, 1922:

The Odd Fellows and Rebekah Building Association have completed plans for the renovation of the Gravan block on Main street, which was gutted by fire last May. The two upper stories of the building will be rebuilt entirely, and the whole frame will be stuccoed. There will be a Spanish tile roof [. . .]. The first floor will be used by various stores now occupying it. The second floor will consist of a lodge room, ante rooms, and a banquet room. The third floor will be used for billiard rooms and robing rooms. [. . .] It is expected that the remodeling will cost about $50,000. George Zunner of Hartford is the architect.

St. Paul Catholic Church, Kensington (1914)

St Paul Church

To serve the Irish community in Kensington (in Berlin), Father Luke Daly of New Britain acquired land on Main Street for a church in 1873. Construction began in October of 1878 and the unfinished church was dedicated in May 1879. St. Paul’s became a full parish two years later. A suspicious fire destroyed St. Paul Church on March 5, 1913. Construction soon began on the current church, at Alling and Peck Streets. The cornerstone was blessed on November 2, 1913 and the church was dedicated on May 24, 1914. According to the Hartford Courant (“Bishop Dedicates Kensington Church,” March 25, 1814):

The edifice itself was built of red brick with Kentucky limestone cornices. The roof is Spanish tile. The architecture is English Gothic with a hint of Spanish mission in the tower. There are three porticos.

A. L. Pelton House (1918)

A. L. Pelton House

As related in a section entitled “Modern Buildings of Conspicuous Design” in the 1921 book Modern Connecticut Homes and Homecrafts:

It is generally accepted that good building construction prevails in Connecticut, so it must naturally follow then that to win distinction in this field is evidence of exceptional merit, as in the instance of Mr. Lewis A. Miller of Meriden, who during a business career of about a quarter century has built, as general contractor, many structures of various kinds throughout the state that are notable for the excellence of their craftsmanship.

Much of Mr. Miller’s work has been in the line of commercial, industrial and others of the larger type of construction, yet one of the finest residences in the central part of Connecticut is of his making. This house, the home of Mr. A. L. Pelton in Winthrop Terrace, Meriden, is conspicuous for the excellence of its workmanship and materials. Designed in an adaptation of the Spanish style, the walls of the house are of white stucco on interlocking hollow tile, and the roof is of red Spanish tile which makes it particularly effective in its color combinations.

While the house’s color scheme has changed (the roof is no longer red tile), this impressive home, built c. 1918, still stands at 126 Winthrop Terrace in Meriden. The name of A. L. Pelton appears in numerous advertisements from c. 1908-1922 that appeared in such magazines as Popular Science, The World’s Work, Popular Mechanics, The Magazine of Business and The Cosmopolitan. Head of the Pelton Publishing Company, he promised to make men rich by selling them the book The Power of Will, by Frank Channing Haddock, a self-help author. Pelton also published other books such as Creed of the Conquering Chief (1915).

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The Spanish House (1929)

The Spanish House

With its white stucco walls, red tile roof and detailed wrought iron work, the house at 46 Fernwood Road in West Hartford is an unusual example in Connecticut of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Called the Spanish House, it was built for Mrs. Grace M. Spear Lincoln (d. 1971), who had lived for a time in Spain and wanted a house in the Spanish style. She acquired the land in 1927 and worked with architect Lester B. Scheide to design the house, which was built in 1928-1929. N. Ross Parke, an artist, completed the home’s interior decoration, painting the dining room ceiling and several niches inside the house. The building has a U-shaped plan surrounding a central court. The court is paved with cobblestones believed to have come from Asylum Avenue when the old trolley line was torn up. The owners of the house in 2003 received a West Hartford Historic Preservation Award for their work on the house, which included the rebuilding of the original 1929 courtyard fountain that had been almost completely destroyed and buried.

Charles D. Talcott House (1865)

Charles D. Talcott House

In 1856, the brothers Horace Welles Talcott and Charles D. Talcott bought the Warburton Mill in Vernon from the estate of Nathaniel Kellogg. They then began to build up the industrial village of Talcottville. Across from the mill, the brothers constructed twin Italianate mansions for themselves at 36 and 48 Main Street. The Horace W. Talcott House (48 Main Street) retains its original appearance, but the Charles D. Talcott House (36 Main Street) was altered in 1920 with elements of the Spanish Eclectic style.