George Richardson House (1887)

The George Richardson House is a Queen Anne-style residence built in 1887 at 311 Barnum Avenue in East Bridgeport. The house’s architect was Henry A. Lambert. There appear to be two prominent George Richardsons associated with Bridgeport at this time. The house was built for George Richardson, originally a railroad engineer in Troy, NY. He became superintendent of the Consolidated Safety Valve Company, which he founded with his partner, Richard H. Ashcroft, in Boston in 1879. The company moved to Bridgeport six years later. Both men had earlier patented new safety valve designs in the 1860s. The house was later owned by George E. Nothnagle of the George E. Nothnagle & Son furniture store in Bridgeport. As for the other George Rchardson, his house was located, according to The Standard’s History of Bridgeport (1897), “near Seaside Park, one of the most attractive portions of the city.” This Richardson

was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 5, 1847. He received his education at an early age in that city, and at an early age became connected with the Bridgeport Hydraulic Co., after which he spent his summers in this city until 1869, when he was made Superintendent of the Company, a position which he has held ever since. Very few men in business in Bridgeport to-day are more widely known than Mr. Richardson, and his thorough knowledge of the plant of the Hydraulic Company, having “grown up with it,” as it were, his skill in handling men and his energy and industry have been of great advantage to the company. He has also a marked inventive faculty, and several of his patented inventions are quite valuable and in extensive use.