The 3-unit row houses at 526–534 East Washington Street, facing Washington Park, in East Bridgeport, were built in 1882 to designs by Palliser & Palliser.
526-534 East Washington Street, Bridgeport (1882)
Charles H. Russell Block (1882)
The Charles H. Russell Block, 374-384 Atlantic Street in Bridgeport, is a four-unit block of row houses built in 1882. Based on circumstantial evidence, the building has been attributed to the architectural firm of Palliser, Palliser & Company. The block is part of a planned development of working-class housing, innovatively designed by the Pallisers on land owned by P.T. Barnum.
256-270 Broad Street, Bridgeport (1879)
A block of brick row houses at 256–270 Broad Street in Bridgeport, which date to around 1879, have been attributed to the architectural firm of Palliser & Palliser and the builder W. Bishop. The houses combine elements of the Victorian Gothic, Queen Anne and Romanesque styles in their eclectic facades. George and Charles Palliser built a number of such brick row houses in different parts of Bridgeport in the early 1880s, but this style of urban housing did not catch on in the city. One of this row of houses has a sign out front indicating that it was the home of Capt. William C. Hyer, who commanded a brigantine in fighting in 1864 at Fort Moultrie, Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina.
Elisha Parish-James M. Jones House (1882)
The Elisha Parish-James M. Jones House is a double house at 404-412 Atlantic Street in Bridgeport. The house originally had 2-story verandas on either side of the structure’s front pavilion, which has double bay windows. The verandas on the east side remain, but those on the west side were rebuilt and enclosed in the the mid-twentieth century.
Nelson J. Welton House (1883)
The firm of Palliser and Palliser, who had earlier been responsible for the Benedict-Miller and Mary Mitchell Houses on Hillside Avenue in Waterbury, were hired by Nelson J. Welton to design another house on the same street. Built in 1883, the Stick style house at 83 Hillside Avenue was featured in the 1887 book, Palliser’s New Cottage Homes. According to The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2 (1896),
Mr. Welton is a civil and hydraulic engineer, and is a member of the state board of civil engineers. He was appointed surveyor for New Haven county in 1850; was street surveyor of the city of Waterbury for thirty-two years, and was engineer in charge of the construction of the city water works and of the city’s system of sewerage. He has been president of the water board, with the exception of two years, since 1867. He has served the city and town in various other official capacities, and was representative to the General Assembly in 1861.
The Welton House was later much altered from its original appearance, including the addition of a Colonial Revival porch in the 1920s.
10 Ellington Avenue, Rockville (1885)
Cyrus Winchell, a real estate developer, constructed two adjacent Stick style houses on Ellington Avenue in Rockville as investment properties in 1885. The house at 12 Ellington Avenue has already been featured on this site as the Cyrus Winchell House. The house at 10 Ellington Avenue is known to have been designed designed by the firm of Palliser and Palliser of Bridgeport, and the similar No. 12 was likely their work as well. The house was a rental property until 1915, when it was purchased by Sherwood C. Cummings. It has remained in the Cummings family, which possesses original Palliser drawings of the house.
Frank Underwood House (1873)
The section on Tolland in A History of New England, Vol. I, (1880), explains that:
The business of tanning and currying leather had been carried on near the village for many years before 1840. About that time Mr. Moses Underwood purchased this property and continued the business successfully for several years, when he and one of his sons [Henry Underwood] engaged in manufacturing belts in connection with the business of tanning leather. The Underwood Belting Company, formed in 1875, have increased this business and have erected more commodious and extensive buildings, furnished with expensive machinery. This is the only manufacturing business now carried on in Tolland.
Frank Underwood, son of Henry, built his house at 25 Tolland Green in Tolland in 1873. Five years later, he constructed a factory behind his house, from which steam was piped to heat his residence. The factory burned in 1897, but the house survives and is notable for being the work of the architects Palliser and Palliser. The design of the house was featured in Palliser’s Model Homes (1883), where the house is described as follows:
This country residence embraces many novel and good features of exterior variety and interior compactness and convenience. The workmanship and materials throughout have been of the best description, the materials being purchased by the owner and the work done by the day, and no pains have been spared to make it first-class in every respect.
The interior arrangement is very complete and unique, the Hall being finished in Oak, Parlor in Maple, Library and Dining-room in Ash, all the fire-places having hard wood mantels of handsome design. The conservatory is a pleasing feature of the first floor plan, and is accessible from the Dining-room through a casement window; access is also obtained in a like manner to porch in rear of Dining-room. A clothes-shute is arranged from second floor to soiled clothes-closet in Laundry, an arrangement that is appreciated by every housekeeper.
Stained glass is used in all the windows above transoms. Roofs are slated and ridges covered with red terra-cotta cresting. The interior wood-work is filled with Crockett’s Preservative. The heating is done by indirect radiation, steam being brought into cellar from the Underwood Belting Company’s Factory. Cost about $4,500.00.