The house at 618 Main Street in Portland was erected in 1807 for Jeremiah Gildersleeve (1781-1857), a ship carpenter and navigator who was a member of the famous Gildersleeve shipbuilding family. He married Lucy Ann Cone in 1804.
This is my presentation recorded live earlier today for the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum: “When Hartford Was a Retail Hub: the Growth of the City’s Great Department Stores (1890s – 1960s).”
This video is about the buildings that Hartford Hospital erected at its main campus between 1857 and 1972. Many of these are now lost, including many of the hospital’s brownstone buildings erected in the early nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
In this video I talk about a section of State Street north of the Old State House in Hartford, Connecticut. In the nineteenth century this was the location of the popular United States Hotel. The hotel would be replaced by The First National Bank building, the W. T. Grant store and the Regal Theatre. These were all torn down to make way for the State House Square development in the 1980s. The famed Honiss Oyster House, the origins of which went back to 1845, was located in the basement of the hotel and later the Grant’s store before it closed in 1982.
This video is about a historic corner of Hartford, Connecticut. What today is the Main Street side and entrance Pavilion of the State House Square complex was long a prominent site of now lost historic buildings and notable businesses. These included early 19th-century silverware producers, the publishers of Hartford’s yearly Geer’s City Directory, Goodwin’s drugstore, and the well-remembered Harvey & Lewis Building.
The Amos Hollister House at 58-60 Tryon Street in South Glastonbury, built in about 1725 (or perhaps as early as 1695) for a member of the prominent Hollister family, maintains many of its original features, including its saltbox form.
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The Y.M.C.A. branch in Winsted was first organized in 1887. The opening of the Y.M.C.A. building at 480 Main Street in Winstead was described in the Hartford Courant newspaper on September 3, 1916:
After being two years without the use of a building when the old fashioned dwelling house used for a quarter of a century had outlived its usefulness, the Winsted Young Men’s Christian Association Monday will, open for public inspection the beautiful new structure made possible by the gift of $30,000 in the will of the late Rufus E. Holmes, and a fund of approximately $50,000 raised in a whirlwind campaign among Winsted citizens. […]
The new building is of gray tapestry brick with artificial stone trimmings, of Colonial design, and represents an outlay of $75,000. It Is three stories high, and in appointments is second to none in the state for a town the size of Winchester. The lobby and office are located so that supervision is at all times assured, and is within easy reach of members. The boys and men’s social rooms are apart. The men’s room is fitted with one billiard and three pool tables, and the boys have two tables in their section. The reading rooms are well located and are well supplied with attractive reading materials.
The gymnasium is in reality a separate building, closely connected to the swimming pool. It Is 62 by 48 feet, with a gallery for spectators, and is equipped with the latest Narragansett Machine Company‘s apparatus. The swimming pool Is a little larger than the standard size and will prove one of the greatest attractions in the building, filling a long felt want in the town. […]
Three regulation bowling alleys furnished by the Brunswick-Collendar-Balke Company have been installed in the basement, and a better bowling room is not to be found in this section of the state. The dormitories are located on the third floor, and are sixteen in number, many of than having been engaged before work was started in the construction of the building.
On the second floor is the kitchen and serving room with gas range, china, linen and silverware belonging to the Women’s Auxiliary of the Y.M.C.A. and adjoining is a ladles’ rest room, parlor, lavatory and toilet. On the same floor is the assembly room which may be subdivided into three classrooms by folding doors, and may be used as a banquet room and for entertainments. A moving picture booth has been provided and an up to date machine bought. […]
Plans for the new building were provided by Louis E. Jallade of New York and the construction was under the personal supervision of Morris J. Sullivan of his office. The general contract was awarded to Frank W. Fuller of Torrington, and the superintendent was Frank H. Maher of Winsted, who died while the building was nearing completion. The Hutton Brothers Company of Winsted had the plumbing contract and the E. A. Perkins Company of Torrington did the electrical work.
As mentioned in the article, the gymnasium was in a separate attached building. It was later moved across the street and became the Manchester Feed Mill, but was lost in the 1955 flood.
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