Colonial - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

The Hurd House (1660)

The Hurd House in Woodbury is a combination of what were originally two smaller houses. The older, north section, dates to around 1680 and was the home of John Hurd, who became the town’s miller in 1681. The south section, which may have originally been the home of Hurd’s son, was added to the older structure in 1718, to increase the overall size of the house. The two original houses were of the end-chimney type, while the structure resulting from the combination has a central chimney. By 1779, a lean-to was added, making the house a saltbox, although this was later removed. In 1967, the house was acquired by the Old Woodbury Historical Society.

A new feature is being launched today at Historic Buildings of Connecticut. I plan to do a series of articles discussing some of the different architectural styles found in Connecticut. I will be using buildings which have appeared on this site as examples, sometimes with different photos than those which have appeared here before. The first of these articles is on Colonial Houses, which can be found at the url address:
https://historicbuildingsct.com/?page_id=502. This and later articles to come will be indexed on the Architecture page (also listed in the bar above the site banner), so please check there for future additions!

The Dr. Daniel Sheldon House (1785)

Dr. Daniel Sheldon, who was once described as having “long held a very high rank among physicians of this state,” began his career in Washington (CT) and later settled in Litchfield. His house in that town, built in 1785 on North Street, has a mansard roof and an uncommon design for eighteenth-century Connecticut houses. The house was lived in until 1889 by his daughter, Lucy Sheldon Beach, who had attended the Litchfield Female Academy and lived to age of 100.

The Benjamin Tallmadge House (1775)

The house originally erected by Thomas Sheldon around 1775, on North Street in Litchfield, is more commonly associated with Benjamin Tallmadge, who purchased it when he arrived in Litchfield in 1782. Tallmadge was an aide to George Washington during the Revolutionary War and served as the general’s intelligence deputy, as well as founding a notable spy ring in New York. Tallmadge married Mary Floyd, daughter of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In Litchfield, he became a merchant (in partnership with Oliver Wolcott, Jr. and Julius Deming) and was president of Phoenix Bank (later the First National Bank of Litchfield). Tallmadge altered his Georgian house with the addition of two columned porches on the north and south ends. He later completed a memoir of his life and may also have been the model for Col. Davenport in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s autobiographical novel Poganuc People.

Seth Wetmore House (1746)

Located on a hill, at the intersection of Washington Street Extension and Camp Street, the Seth Wetmore House is Middletown’s best example of Georgian architecture. The house was built by the prominent citizen, Judge Seth Wetmore, in 1746, the same year he married Hannah Edwards, the sister of Jonathan Edwards. Wetmore called his home, which was intended to surpass all others in Middletown at the time in size and ornamentation, “Staddle Hill” (it was later known as “Oak Hill”). It featured an elaborate “broken scroll” Connecticut River Valley doorway and originally had a large gambrel roof. The Wetmore House therefore served as a model for the homes built afterwards by the leading citizens of the Connecticut River Valley region. The influential Wetmore family is said to have received visits at the house from a number of important people, including Jonathan Edwards, Timothy Dwight, Aaron Burr and the Marquis de Lafayette. The house remained in the Wetmore family for over two centuries, but in recent years had fallen into disrepair. In 1986, the Wadsworth Atheneum acquired the parlor of the Wetmore House and had it installed in the museum, where it can be visited today. More recently, efforts were undertaken to to save the house from potential demolition. In 2007, the house was purchased and therefore saved for restoration.

The Glebe House (1750)

Built around 1750, the Glebe House in Woodbury gained its name because it became the home of an Anglican clergyman. A glebe is the farmland occupied by a rural clergyman as a benefice. In 1771, John Rutgers Marshall arrived in Woodbury as its first Episcopal priest and resided in the Glebe House. In 1783, a group of Episcopal clergy met in the house and chose Reverend Dr. Samuel Seabury as the first bishop in America. The house was later occupied by Gideon B. Botsford, a silversmith. By the 1920s, the house was in disrepair after passing through various owners. It was then saved from demolition through the efforts of the Seabury Society for the Preservation of the Glebe House. In 1923, the house was restored by William Henry Kent and opened to the public as a house museum in 1925. The next year, the eminent English gardener Gertrude Jekyll was commissioned to design a garden for the museum. It was never fully installed, but has since been restored according to the original plans. Visitors can now enjoy the Glebe House Museum and The Gertrude Jekyll Garden.

John Goodrich House (1760)

John Goodrich was a descendant early Glastonbury settlers. His house, on Main Street in Glastonbury, was built in 1760. After his death, his daughters sold it to a cousin, Israel Goodrich. In 1806, the year he married Harriet Miller, he modernized the interior, reducing the size of the original kitchen fireplace. The home is currently for sale.

Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. House (1769)

Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. was the son of Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., Connecticut’s governor during the Revolutionary War. He was the brother of the artist John Trumbull, who painted notable scenes from the Revolution. Jonathan Jr. served during the war himself as Military Sectary to George Washington, replacing Alexander Hamilton in that position in 1781 and holding it throughout the Yorktown Campaign. After the war, Trumbull served as Governor of Connecticut (1797-1809). Trumbull’s house, on the Green in Lebanon, was originally built around 1769 by his father and was remodeled during the war in the fashionable Georgian style by the master builder Isaac Fitch. George Washington spent the night of March 4, 1781 in the home, which is now owned and operated as a house museum by the Town of Lebanon.

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