Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Henry Austin

The Hotchkiss-Betts House (1854)

The second house to be built for Nelson Hotchkiss on Chapel Street in New Haven was constructed in 1854, possibly to a design by Henry Austin. The facade of this Italianate house features two bow fronts, on either side of the front entry porch. Hotchkiss, of the sash and blind making firm of Hotchkiss & Lewis, only lived in the home two years before moving back to his old house. Judge Fred J. Betts lived in the house in the 1870s. By the 1970s, the house was boarded up and in disrepair. It was later restored.

The James Dwight Dana House (1849)

James Dwight Dana was a mineralogist and Yale professor. Dana was also a member of the United States Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) and the author of numerous books on geology. His house, on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, was designed by Henry Austin in the Italianate style, but was decorated with trim influenced by India (by way of British publications). The same year the house was constructed, Austin’s John Pitkin Norton House was built for another Yale science professor. The wing to the north was added in 1905 and the house was sold by the Dana family to Yale in 1962. It now houses Yale’s Department of Statistics. There is also HABS documentation on the house.

Aaron Skinner House (1832)

As with some other homes built on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven the 1830s, the Aaron Skinner House was designed by Alexander J. Davis, with significant involvement by James A. Hillhouse. Skinner, who briefly operated a boy’s school in his home, was persuaded to go along with Davis and Hillhouse’s expensive Greek Revival design. In the 1850s, Henry Austin altered the house by filling in the second story, which originally did not extend so far, to match the first story. This crated a more cube-like appearance. The house was later owned by the Trowbridge family and was bequeathed to Yale by Rachel Trowbridge. It now serves as Yale’s International Center for Finance.

The Oliver B. North House (1852)

Showing greater freedom than in his earlier design of the 1849 Norton House on Hillhouse Avenue, Henry Austin designed another Italian villa style house on Chapel Street in 1852. Built for the Cincinnati merchant Jonathan King, the house features a prominent central tower. It is commonly known by the name of its next resident, Oliver B. North, head of O.B. North, a saddlery and carriage hardware firm.

The Willis Bristol House (1845)

Located on Chapel Street, in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood, the Willis Bristol House was designed by New Haven architect Henry Austin. Designed with a basic Italianate shape, the house has elaborate detailing in what has been described as either the Moorish Revival style or a style influenced by the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, which was built in the Indo-Saracenic style. Yale has original plans and illustrations of the house and a there is also a HABS record. The house was built for Willis Bristol, of Bristol & Hall, boot and shoe manufacturers.

The John Pitkin Norton House (1849)

Henry Austin designed one of New Haven’s earliest houses to be modeled on the style of an Italian villa: the John Pitkin Norton House on Hillhouse Avenue. Built in 1848-49, the house was inspired by the design for a villa published by Andrew Jackson Downing. As seen in HABS documentation from 1964, the house had lost much of its original detailing by then. In 2003, exterior restorations were made. The house was built for the Yale science professor John Pitkin Norton, an agricultural chemist who wrote Elements of Scientific Agriculture. Some additions were later made, including the third floor. The house was acquired by Yale in 1923 and is now a building of the Yale School of Management.

John M. Davies House (1868)

When it was completed, on Prospect Street in New Haven in 1868, the John M. Davies House was the largest house in the city. It was designed by Henry Austin (with David R. Brown) for Davies, who owned a shirt-manufacturing company with Oliver Winchester, before the latter became famous for manufacturing firearms. The irregularly laid-out French Second Empire-style house lies on rising ground fronted by a wide lawn, creating a dramatic composition. In 1947, the house was purchased by a New Haven cooking school that would become the Culinary Institute of America. In 1964, while still owned by the Institute, it was the subject of a HABS study. In 1972, the house (now renamed the Betts House) was purchased by Yale University and remained unused for many years. Damaged by a fire in 1990, the house was restored in 2000-2002 and now serves as the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.