Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Colonial Revival

West Middle School (1930)

Hartford’s Georgian Revival style West Middle Middle School of 1930 replaced the school’s earlier building, a Victorian Gothic structure designed by Richard M. Upjohn and erected in 1873. The school‘s original facade faces Asylum Avenue in the city’s Asylum Hill neighborhood. Its design, like that of a number of other buildings in the city, was based on that of the Old State House. Update (2017): the school recently underwent a major renovation. West Middle Community School now has its main entrance on Niles Street. The Mark Twain branch of the Hartford Public Library has moved to a location inside the school, with its entrance being the school’s former front facade on Asylum Avenue.

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The Dr. Lee J. Whittles House (1850)

A Cardinal House is a bed and breakfast located on Main Street in Glastonbury. Their website describes it as an 1850 house in the Georgian Revival style. That would make it a very early example of this style of building.

Edit (5/27/08): I have more recently learned that this house was extensively remodeled in 1897 and again in 1936, when it was the home of Dr. Lee J. Whittles. He studied Glastonbury’s old houses for decades and was part of the committee responsible for the Welles-Shipman-Ward House from being razed.

Fanny S. O’Connor House (1899)

Very unusually for a Georgian Revival style house, the Fanny S. O’Connor House, on Gillett Street in Hartford, was constructed of brownstone. The house, built in 1899, also features a Jacobethan Revival-style gable.

Farmington Savings Bank (1927)

Founded in 1851, the Farmington Savings Bank moved into its current Main Office, on Main Street in Farmington, after it was completed in 1927. From 1865 to 1927, it had been located in an old store building that once stood in front of the current building. Before that, the bank had been successively located in the homes of its first two treasurers!

The Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall (1930)

Strongly influenced by many features of the Old State House, the Horace Bushnell Memorial Hall was built in 1930 in the Georgian Revival style. It was constructed in Hartford, near the State Capitol, as a gift to the community from Dotha Bushnell Hillyer in honor of her father, the Rev. Horace Bushnell. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Corbett, Harrison and MacMurray, which also worked on Rockefeller Center. While the exterior reflects Colonial influence, the interior is in the Art Deco style. Today, the expanded Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts remains Hartford’s main venue for concerts and can also serve as a public auditorium.

The Frank Cheney, Jr. House (1900)

One of the mansions of the Cheney family of silk manufacturers in Manchester is the house constructed around 1900 for Frank Cheney, Jr. on Hartford Road. A Colonial Revival structure, designed by Charles Adams Platt, it includes such features as a hipped roof, a prominent palladian window and portico with Ionic columns. Purchased in 1958 by the nearby South United Methodist Church, it has been used for various purposes and currently houses the offices of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and New Hope Manor.

Sarah Porter Memorial (1902)

Miss Sarah Porter, born in 1813, was the daughter of Noah Porter, pastor of First Church in Farmington, 1806-1866. In 1843 she founded the school for girls which is associated with her name. After her death, in 1900, former students of Miss Porter’s School contributed money for the building of the Sarah Porter Memorial House. Dedicated in 1902, it serves First Church, which is located just across the Village Green. The building is also used as a community center, hosting other local groups.