The house at 47 Holmes Avenue in Waterbury was built in 1889 by Alfred F. Taylor, who ran a painting company (see advertisement, pdf, p.11). He and his family only occupied the house for a year before he sold it to John S. Wheeler, a retired painter. Taylor then moved to a similar Queen Anne house he had built next door, at 51 Holmes Avenue. According to the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Vol. III (1918), “the long established business of the A. F. Taylor Company”
was organized in 1880 and was incorporated in 1901 by A. F., Foster B. and Charles I. Taylor. The Taylors sold their interests about 1909 to George Reed, who had formerly been with the Scovill Manufacturing Company. He remained at the head of the business until 1908, when he sold out to W. D. Austin and C. W. Lyons, and in 1914 Mr. Austin purchased the interest of Mr. Lyons. The business was first located on Grand street and thence removed to No. 43 Center street, where the company occupies a building, which has a frontage of twenty-three feet and a depth of one hundred and ten feet. They handle a full line of wall paper, window shades and awnings and in addition do interior decorating in all its branches, taking large contracts for work of this character and employing fifty people in the busy season. The business has reached extensive proportions and has become one of the profitable industries of the city.