The Rockville Public Library began in 1893 with a $10,000 bequest from George Maxwell (1817-1891), President and Treasurer of the Hockanum Company woolen mills, and another $10,000 raised by the town of Vernon. The George Maxwell Memorial Library building, at 52 Union Street in Rockville, was opened in 1904. It was the first public building to be designed by architect Charles A. Platt. (more…)
The Steiger Building is located on the southeast corner of Trumbull and Pratt Streets in Hartford. It was built in 1926-1928 and was the second major Hartford building built by Albert Steiger of Steiger’s Department Stores. The new building was designed by Smith & Bassette to correspond in architecture and building materials with the earlier Steiger Store, built in 1920-1921 on Main Street, at the other end of Pratt Street. That earlier Main Street building has since been replaced by a parking lot, but the one on Trumbull Street survives today.
Happy New Year from Historic Buildings of Connecticut!!! According to Vol. I of Waldo’s History of Bridgeport and Vicinity (1917), the Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank of Bridgeport
received its charter in 1871, but was not officially organized until July, 1873, when the incorporators held their first meeting and elected a board of trustees; George W. Hayes, president; Andrew Burke and George Lewis, vice presidents; and Lyman S. Catlin, secretary and treasurer. It was started as an East Bridgeport bank and was located on West Washington Avenue, near East Main Street. From there the bank was moved to the basement of the Connecticut Bank Building, corner of Main and Wall streets, then to the Barnum Building, 407 Main Street, then to the City Bank Building, Wall Street, and finally to the new and attractive structure at 930 Main Street.
In 1930, the Bank constructed a new building, designed by Ernest G. Southey, in front of an earlier brick-faced building. Mechanics & Farmers Savings Bank failed in 1991 and the building has been vacant for many years. The Beaux Arts structure, which was owned for several years by the City of Bridgeport, was used in 2007 as a location for the film Righteous Kill, during which their was a minor fire in the bank’s lobby. Fletcher-Thompson Inc., an engineering and design firm that moved out of Bridgeport in 2002, plans to return to the city, renovating and moving into the former bank building by 2014.
Incorporated in 1881, the First National Bank in Wallingford was originally located in an 1882 Renaissance Revival building at 35 South Main Street. In 1921, the bank moved to a new Beaux-Arts building at 9 North Main Street. This building was bought by the town in 1960 and was the location of the town’s electric division payment office and tax collector’s office until 1989. It has since housed a drug store, bookstore and now a restaurant.
The first Masonic Lodge in Meridan was established on January 1, 1851. The current Masonic Temple, at 112 East Main Street, was built in 1927. The Neo-Classical building features two Egyptian-style columns at the front entrance.
Begun as a lyceum in 1856, the Colchester Library Association was formally organized in 1879. Having occupied various rented quarters, the library’s permanent home at 8 Linwood Avenue was opened in 1905. A former Bacon Academy student, Dr. Edwin B. Cragin, a New York physician, provided the funds to complete the building, which was named the Cragin Memorial Library. Dr. Cragin was a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, known for his phrase: “Once a cesarean, always a cesarean.” The Library was built on the site where the Cragin family home had once stood. The architect of the Neoclassical building was Albert B. Boss of New York. The library was later expanded with a new building in 2002.
In 1909, a massive fire destroyed the original Shannon Building in downtown Norwich. It was a large commercial and apartment building, built in 1892 by a local Irish businessman and real estate developer named James B. “Big Jim” Shannon. It was rebuilt the following year as a fireproof structure. In 1988-1989, the Shannon Building was restored by the Norwich Savings Society, the owners of the building. (more…)
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