Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Author: Daniel

18th Anniversary of Historic Buildings of Connecticut!

Today is the eighteenth anniversary of this website, which started on April 30, 2007 with a post about the Joseph Webb House (back when the house was still painted “Webb Red”!). Since then, I also started a similar website about Massachusetts, I wrote two books about historic Hartford, started a YouTube channel History with Dan Sterner, and most recently launched a Substack called Remembering Old Hartford (and another one called That’s Historical). Thank you all for reading and watching! If you would like to support my work, please consider becoming a paid Substack subscriber, a member of my YouTube channel, or visit my Ko-fi page.

New Video: Hartford Mansions of the Perkins Dynasty of Lawyers

This video is about three mansions built for three generations of Perkins family lawyers in Hartford, Connecticut. Enoch Perkins settled in Hartford in 1786 and soon built a house on Main Street that survived until 1795. His son, Thomas Clap Perkins, once lived in a house in the city’s Nook Farm neighborhood which has also been lost. Thomas’ son, Charles E. Perkins, erected a residence (with a similar Gothic Revival style to his father’s former home) in 1861, and that house survives today off Woodland Street. The fourth generation lawyer, Arthur Perkins, lived in a house on Gillett Street that no longer exists (and I don’t know of any picture of it).

New Video (and article) about Hartford’s (Lost) Garden Street Reservoir

My latest video is about the Garden Street Reservoir, which stood on Asylum Hill in Hartford behind where the Hartford Insurance Company Building is today. There are many interesting stories about the reservoir, including about the seal that once lived in it! In fact, there are so many stories that I couldn’t fit them all in the video, so I’ve also written a Substack article with quotations from the 1850s relating to the original digging and construction of the reservoir.

New Video on a Lost Section of Hartford’s Main Street

This video is about a section of Main Street in Hartford, Connecticut that is now occupied by the building at 740 Main Street that was erected by Travelers Insurance in 1956. At the time of the Revolution, the businesses of female merchant Margaret Chenevard and bookseller and apothecary Hezekiah Merrill were located here. In the early nineteenth century, property here was owned by Oliver Ellsworth. A building erected at the corner of (the now lost) Grove Street in 1856 served as a post office and for over a half century was occupied by the Hartford Times newspaper.

Support the site here: https://ko-fi.com/danielsterner Please check out my Substack REMEMBERING OLD HARTFORD https://oldhartford.substack.com My Books (These are links to Amazon and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases): A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut: https://amzn.to/4bNbiAR Vanished Downtown Hartford: https://amzn.to/3IhK7Ao Subscribe to the channel: / @historywithdansterner263

Hartford’s 20 Most Iconic Buildings

What are the most iconic buildings in Hartford, Connecticut? This video lists 20 structures that symbolize the city and its importance in history.

Hartford’s Lost Pavilion House

In my recent Substack article I talk about a lost Federal style mansion that stood on Pavilion Street in the city’s Clay-Arsenal neighborhood. Check out the article to learn more about this house’s history, which over the years served as a billiard resort and a school.

New Video on Hartford’s Lost Ely Mansion

My latest video is about two lost Hartford mansions. The Ely family homes stood on Main Street, where the Capitol Prep Magnet School is today. They were built in 1811 and 1830-1832 by William Ely, a wealthy shipping merchant who had a town called Elyton named for him in Alabama. Elton was later absorbed into the city of Birmingham, but the Elyton Hotel in Birmingham and Ely Street in Hartford perpetuate his name today.

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