In 1807, Dr. Thomas Cornwall built a house at the northwest intersection of South Main Street and Cornwall Avenue in Cheshire. With his medical practice growing, Dr. Cornwall moved this first house to the rear of his lot and built a larger building, to serve as his home and office, on the site in 1810. The central block is the oldest section of the house, with the two wings being added in 1814. A specialist in cancer treatment, Dr. Cornwall constructed the wings to serve as a sanitarium for his patients. Dr. Cornwall’s son Edward, an attorney who served in various town offices and in the state legislature, lived in the house after 1846. It was Edward Cornwall who later added the Victorian-style porches to the building’s two side wings.
