Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Author: Daniel

Hough Tavern (1780)

Hough’s Tavern, once a relay station and tavern on the stagecoach line from New York to Boston, is located at 194 West Main Street in Chester. The building is dated c. 1780 or 1790.

The house at 1091 Main Street in South Windsor is currently attracting the attention of the preservation community who have sought to delay its demolition. Its current owners claim that renovation of the building, which has suffered deterioration through neglect over 80 years, is not feasible. Built in 1782, it is known as the Asahel Olcott House and was built by either Asahel (1754-1831) or his father Benoni Olcott (1716-1799). It is an unusual example in Connecticut of a house with a “Beverly jog” (usually only found in houses on the North Shore of Massachusetts). Asahel Olcott was a soldier in the Revolutionary War who responded to the Lexington Alarm in 1775.

Roxbury Congregational Church (1838)

In 1731 residents of the Shippaug district of Woodbury petitioned the General Assembly to have their own minister during the winter months, when travel to the meeting house in Woodbury was difficult. The petition was granted and the following year a small meeting house was erected on the crest of the first ridge west of the present Roxbury-Woodbury town line. In 1743 the residents of Shippaug became a separate Ecclesiastical Society from Woodbury under the name of Roxbury. A new meeting house on the same site was built in 1746. The next meeting house was built in the present town center of Roxbury (approximately at what is now 12 Church Street) in 1795. The following year, Roxbury was incorporated as a town. The current meeting house of the Roxbury Congregational Church was built at 24 Church Street in 1838.

Thomas A. Smith House (1860)

The Thomas A. Smith House in Northford (in North Branford) is a Greek Revival residence built in 1860. Located at 16 Old Post Road, it was built for Thomas A, Smith, president of the Paug Manufacturing Company, and was later owned by Stanley T. Williams. In 1957 the house became the parish hall for the Northford Congregational Church.

Bozrah Town Hall (1832)

The building which now serves the Town Hall of Bozrah was built in the mid-nineteenth century (between 1832 and 1865). Its original owner was Asa Fitch, who owned the local mill and was expanding the mill village of Fitchville at the time. The building was once used as a sericulture plant and then as a recreation center for mill workers. It was acquired by the town in 1949. In 2010-2012, the Town Hall underwent an extensive renovation, in which it was completely gutted and rebuilt on the inside and an addition placed on one corner.

Grace Church Rectory, Windsor (1865)

Built c. 1865 as the Rectory (priest’s residence) of Grace Episcopal Church, the building at 301 Broad Street in Windsor is an excellent example of the Gothic Revival style with such features as decorative bargeboards.

Daniel Glazier House (1808)

The house at 277 Tolland Turnpike in Willington was built sometime before 1808 by Daniel Glazier, the property being separated from a larger tract on which the Daniel Glazier Tavern would be built c. 1815. The town pound, where stray cattle were kept, was nearby and a number of those who lived in the house, including Glazier, were pound keepers. Across the street is a historic barn associated with the house. The barn was built in the early to mid-nineteenth century. The house no longer has its original central chimney.