Bedford Building (1923)

From as early as 1799 through the 1920s a hotel stood at the corner of Main Street, Church Lane and State Street/Post Road East in Westport. In 1923 the old Westport Hotel was replaced by a large Tudor Revival-style structure donated by Edward T. Bedford (1849-1931) to serve as the town’s first Y.M.C.A. building. Bedford, who grew up in Westport in modest circumstances and eventually became an executive of Standard Oil, remembered in his youth standing outside the windows of the hotel, watching a game of pool or billiards, but being unable to enter on account of the hotel’s saloon. Years later he wanted to donate a place where local boys and young men could congregate safely. The Bedford Building remained the home of the Y.M.C.A. for ninety years, eventually expanding to occupy space in the adjoining firehouse as well, until it moved to a new facility in 2014. Its original home was then transformed to became part of a substantial new mixed-use development (retail, dining and residential) called Bedford Square. The historic Tudor Revival facade was maintained, but the rear and basements of the property were significantly altered. Later 1977 additions to the Y.M.C.A. were replaced with historically sensitive new construction. Anthropologie & Co. moved in as the anchor tenant for the 40,000-square-foot Bedford Building.

Winsted Y.M.C.A. (1916)

Winsted Y.M.C.A.

The Y.M.C.A. branch in Winsted was first organized in 1887. The opening of the Y.M.C.A. building at 480 Main Street in Winstead was described in the Hartford Courant newspaper on September 3, 1916:

After being two years without the use of a building when the old fashioned dwelling house used for a quarter of a century had outlived its usefulness, the Winsted Young Men’s Christian Association Monday will, open for public inspection the beautiful new structure made possible by the gift of $30,000 in the will of the late Rufus E. Holmes, and a fund of approximately $50,000 raised in a whirlwind campaign among Winsted citizens. […]

The new building is of gray tapestry brick with artificial stone trimmings, of Colonial design, and represents an outlay of $75,000. It Is three stories high, and in appointments is second to none in the state for a town the size of Winchester. The lobby and office are located so that supervision is at all times assured, and is within easy reach of members. The boys and men’s social rooms are apart. The men’s room is fitted with one billiard and three pool tables, and the boys have two tables in their section. The reading rooms are well located and are well supplied with attractive reading materials.

The gymnasium is in reality a separate building, closely connected to the swimming pool. It Is 62 by 48 feet, with a gallery for spectators, and is equipped with the latest Narragansett Machine Company‘s apparatus. The swimming pool Is a little larger than the standard size and will prove one of the greatest attractions in the building, filling a long felt want in the town. […]

Three regulation bowling alleys furnished by the Brunswick-Collendar-Balke Company have been installed in the basement, and a better bowling room is not to be found in this section of the state. The dormitories are located on the third floor, and are sixteen in number, many of than having been engaged before work was started in the construction of the building.

On the second floor is the kitchen and serving room with gas range, china, linen and silverware belonging to the Women’s Auxiliary of the Y.M.C.A. and adjoining is a ladles’ rest room, parlor, lavatory and toilet. On the same floor is the assembly room which may be subdivided into three classrooms by folding doors, and may be used as a banquet room and for entertainments. A moving picture booth has been provided and an up to date machine bought. […]

Plans for the new building were provided by Louis E. Jallade of New York and the construction was under the personal supervision of Morris J. Sullivan of his office. The general contract was awarded to Frank W. Fuller of Torrington, and the superintendent was Frank H. Maher of Winsted, who died while the building was nearing completion. The Hutton Brothers Company of Winsted had the plumbing contract and the E. A. Perkins Company of Torrington did the electrical work.

As mentioned in the article, the gymnasium was in a separate attached building. It was later moved across the street and became the Manchester Feed Mill, but was lost in the 1955 flood.

(more…)

Old Lyme Historical Society (1910)

The building at 55 Lyme Street in Old Lyme originally stood on Maple Lane, near the Lieutenant River, where it was built for the Old Lyme Gun Club. It was erected sometime before 1910 (according to different sources in 1885 or 1906) when it was purchased by the Old Lyme Grange #162, which had been founded in 1905. Women had organized the Grange Aid Society to raise funds to buy the building, but because it was located on leased property they continued to save money while seeking land to purchase. In 1928, when the lot at 55 Lyme Street became available, the women of the Grange Aid Society bought it (against the advice of the men). The building was then moved by a team of oxen to its current location, where it was enlarged and refurbished. The new hall was dedicated in February 1929. For decades it hosted various events for the Grange and for the community. The Old Lyme Historical Society, formed in 2005, purchased the Grange building in 2014 as its headquarters, providing a space for the town’s archives, artifacts and historical exhibits.

Masonic Temple, Wethersfeld (1922)

When forming a Lodge in 1921, Masons in Wethersfield chose the name Hospitality Lodge in honor of a nickname of the Webb House, located at 211 Main Street. Built in 1752 for Joseph Webb, Sr., the house became known as “Hospitality Hall” in the years before the Revolutionary War for the lavish parties hosted by Joseph Webb, Jr. and his wife Abigail. The house hosted a famous Mason, George Washington, when he met the French General Rochambeau in Wethersfield in 1781. Hospitality Lodge No. 128 AF&AM was chartered March 5, 1921. The Masonic Temple at 245 Main Street was built the following year and remained in use until 1997, when the Lodge merged with Stepney Lodge No. 133 from Rocky Hill to form Silas Deane Lodge No. 147, which later moved from Wethersfield. More recently, Masons in town wanted to form a new Lodge and were granted the old Hospitality No. 128 charter. The Lodge now meets at the Solomon Welles House in Wethersfield. The old Masonic building has remained vacant, although the town planning and zoning commission approved its conversion into a two-family home in 2014.

(more…)

Hartford Hospital: Brownstone Building (1923)

One of the older buildings on the campus of Hartford Hospital is the Brownstone Building, located at 79 Retreat Avenue. It opened in November, 1923 as the hospital’s Women’s Building, with a focus on maternity care. It was designed by Carl J. Malmfeldt of Hartford and was the subject of an article, “The Women’s Building of the Hartford Hospital, Hartford Conn.” by L. A. Sexton, MD, that appeared in Modern Hospital, Vol. XXII, No. 5 (May, 1924). The builders were the R. F. Jones Company and its construction was the last time that stone was used from the famed brownstone quarries in Portland. Along the sidewalk next to the building is a fence with a cast iron gate that features the symbol of the Caduceus and the letters “HH.” The building has housed various departments of the hospital over the years, currently being home to the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic and the Department of Dentistry. Long known as the Brownstone Ambulatory Care Services Building, it formerly housed the outpatient Brownstone Clinic, which recently moved to a new space on Jefferson Avenue and is now called Hartford Hospital Community Health.

Burlingame Building, Institute of Living (1948)

One of the buildings on the campus of the Institute of Living (originally chartered in 1822 as the Retreat for the Insane) in Hartford is the Burlingame Research Building. Erected in 1948, the eight-story building was designed by architect Irving W. Rutherford and was named for Dr. C. Charles Burlingame (1885-1950), who was superintendent of the institution in the 1930s-40s. Atop the building is a tower that displays the symbol of the Caduceus on four sides and is crowned by a golden dome. The tower was lit at night because it was directly in line with runways at Brainard Field (see “Dome Atop Burlingame Building Completed At Institute Of Living,” Hartford Courant, November 25, 1948). The following year a connected eight-story part of the building, called the Psycho-Surgery Building, was opened. (see “Psycho-Surgery Plant Now In Use At Institute,” Hartford Courant, April 17, 1949). Here lobotomies were performed until the 1960s. The operating room was on the sixth floor and the fifth floor was the infirmary for care of immediate post-operative patients. The fourth floor was described in the Hartford Courant (in the 1949 article referenced above) as “unique in the hospital world.” It contained classrooms for retraining those who had been operated on, including social, vocational and recreational development. Subjects included home economics, commercial art, and accounting. Today the Institute is part of Hartford Hospital and the Burlingame Building contains a library and offices.