J. Poliner & Sons (1925)

At 512-528 Main Street in Middletown is a two-story Colonial Revival commercial building with scrubbed terra cotta tiles on the facade. Built in 1925, the building displays the name “J. Poliner & Sons.” Jacob Poliner (d. 1933), an immigrant from Austria, first settled in Hartford and then moved to Middletown, where he established at shoe store at 548 Main Street (at the corner of Ferry Street). A leading member of Adath Israel synagogue, Poliner officiated as cantor in the congregation’s early days and was widely known for his knowledge of the Talmud. One of his five sons was Judge Isreal Poliner, who opened a law office in the Poliner Building in 1928. (more…)

Robert Schutz House (1907)

Prospect Avenue forms a border between Hartford and West Hartford. My new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut, features some interesting houses on the West Hartford side of the street, including the Robert Schutz House at 1075 Prospect Avenue. Unlike other residences nearby, this house is turned 90 degrees from the street. Built in 1907 and designed by Charles Adams Platt, the house was built for Robert Schutz, president of the Smyth Manufacturing Company, which still makes bookbinding machines today. The house was also the residence of his son, Robert Schutz Jr., who was an architect. As a trustee and president of the Mark Twain Memorial in the 1950s, Robert Schutz Jr. donated objects he found in the attic of this house to what is now the Mark Twain House and Museum.

Boce W. Barlow Jr. House (1926)

At 31 Canterbury Street in Hartford is a house featured in Tour 8 of my new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut. Built in 1926, it was later the home of Boce W. Barlow, Jr. (1915-2005), the first African-American in the Connecticut judiciary, being appointed judge of Hartford’s municipal court in 1957 and, later, a hearing examiner for Connecticut’s Civil Rights Commission. He also became Connecticut’s first African American state senator when he was elected in 1966. When Barlow and his wife, Catherine Swanson Barlow, first moved to the house in 1958, they were Canterbury Street’s first black family. Born in Americus, Georgia, in 1915, Boce W. Barlow, Jr. moved to Connecticut with his family the following year. He graduated from Hartford Public High School in 1933 and went on to attend Howard University and Harvard Law School. Boce Barlow Way, a street in Hartford, was named in his honor in 1987.

31-33 Lewis Street, Hartford (1928)

At 31-33 Lewis Street in Hartford is a Georgian Revival office building built in 1928 and designed by William F. Brooks. It matches well stylistically with the neighboring early nineteenth-century residences on Lewis Street. Recently rehabilitated, the building is back-to-back with the Trumbull on the Park apartment complex. To learn more about Lewis Street and other sites in Hartford, buy my new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut.

Haley Manors (1898)

In 1981-1982, three nineteenth-century buildings on Capen Street in Hartford, each with 6-units, were converted into cooperatively-owned housing and named “Haley Manors” after Alex Haley, the author of Roots. The property for the project was donated by Rev. Dr. Lincoln J. Davis Sr., founder and President of Lincoln Enterprises, one of the first minority-owned business development corporations in Hartford. Two of the buildings, at 42-44 Capen Street (see image above) and 46-48 Capen Street (see image below), are wood-frame structures that follow the same basic plan with different decorative details on each building. They were built in 1898 by Henry D. Ely. The third building, located at 36-38 Capen Street (see image below), is a brick Italianate, built around 1875. These buildings are mentioned in Tour 8 in my new book, A Guide to Historic Hartford, Connecticut. (more…)