Federal Style - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Samuel Deming’s Store (1809)

Samuel Deming‘s father and uncle built the store he later ran in Farmington in 1809 which sold local goods and imported items. The store originally stood next to Deming’s house on Main Street, but was moved to Mill Lane in the 1930s, when a new town hall was built (now the site of a fire station). John Hooker, attorney and husband of women’s rights activist Isabella Beecher Hooker, rented an office on the store’s second floor in the 1840s. It was also on the second floor that the African men from the Amistad stayed during their first two months in Farmington in 1841. The space was then used as a school, where the Africans attended classes for five hours a day, six days a week. Today, Deming’s store is still a private commercial establishment called “Your Village Store.”

The Chaplin-Apthorp House (1806)

The Chaplin-Apthorp House originally stood on Whitney Avenue, where it was built for James Chaplin by James Hillhouse in 1806. In the 1820s, Hillhouse rented the home to Samuel F. B. Morse. After Morse left, the house was moved in 1827 by James A. Hillhouse to Hillhouse Avenue and a schoolroom was attached for the widowed Mrs. Apthorp, who wanted to open a girls’ school. Apthorp later moved to another house on Hillhouse Avenue in 1838 and the Chaplin-Apthorp House (without its schoolroom) was moved to its current location on Trumbull Street. The house has wings which were added later. It is currently for sale.

Lee Academy (1821)

Lee Academy was built as a schoolhouse in 1821, at the corner of the Boston Post Road and Neck Road in Madison. It was named for Captain Frederick Lee, who had led the effort to establish a private college preparatory school in town, and the new building was constructed across the street from his own house. Capt. Lee had also been the one to propose Madison as a name for the new town in 1826. Although built with a proviso that it would never be moved, the school building has been relocated several times: in 1836 to the western end of the town Green; in 1839 (when it began to serve as a district school, continuing to accommodate the preparatory school as well until 1884) to a plot across from the Green’s northeast corner; in 1896 (making way for the construction of Memorial Hall) to a location behind the Hand Academy. In 1923, the Madison Historical Society began to manage the building, which was moved, for the last time, to its present location, facing west toward the Green. Having housed a number of organizations and businesses over the years, Lee Academy is now used as a museum and as offices for the Historical Society.

Charles Uriah Hayden House (1819)

Charles Uriah Hayden was the grandson of Ebeneezer Hayden, the leading shipbuilder of his time in Essex. Ebeneezer had been predeceased by his children, so when he died in 1818, he left his property to his grandchildren. They proceeded to construct several impressive homes along West Street and Champlin Square in Essex. Charles Uriah Hayden’s Federal style home was built in 1819, on West Street across from Essex town hall. Within fifteen years, he had lost his money and had to sell the house to Joseph Post, a sea captain and ship builder. Post was likely the owner who added a cupola to the house. After six years, Capt. Post sold the house to his brother in 1841. The house had other owners over the years, including the Brooklyn, New York businessman George Ives Stevens. The house was seriously damaged by a fire in 1994, but it has since been restored.

The Ambrose Whittlesey House (1799)

Ambrose Whittlesey was a sea captain who built his house in 1799 on Main Street in Old Saybrook. The ell of the house is earlier, dating to around 1765. The Whittleseys were civil leaders in Old Saybrook and founded the town library. In 1919, the house was acquired Grace Pratt, last surviving member of Ambrose Whittlesey’s family. In 1977, the house’s current owners bought it to become a home furnishings store, which has since grown into a shopping complex called Saybrook Country Barn.

Some readers of this site may be aware of the Connecticut town history links page I created. Each town has a page with links to relevant websites and online books. I have recently been working on a similar page for Massachusetts. So far, it only has a few towns (mostly ones where I’ve taken pictures of buildings). Some of the towns, like Cambridge, Springfield, Salem, Lexington and Concord have many links. Unsurprisingly, Boston has a massive number of links and a huge collection of online books on many different topics, which I have made easier to navigate with a number of internal links, listed at the top of the page. Please check out both the Massachusetts and Connecticut town link pages!

Whitmore Homestead (1786)

The Federal-style Whitmore Homestead, built around 1786, is at 20 Riverview Road in Rocky Hill. There is a small structure on the property thought to have been used as the town’s first post office. The house was also a stop on the Underground Railroad, with a hidden passage in the upstairs closet used by fugitive slaves.

Jedediah Lathrop House (1822)

Now owned by the Town of Guilford, the Jedediah Lathrop House was built in 1822 on Park Street. Maj. Jedediah Lathrop had torn down a preexisting house on the same site to build his impressive Federal-style home. Lathrop, who married Mary Caldwell in 1793, was a prominent citizen, master of St. Alban’s Masonic Lodge and part of the reception committee for General Lafayette, who visited Guilford in 1824. Lathrop also cultivated grapes, like those displayed at the 1838 fair of the Horticultural Society of New Haven. The house was later owned by Bernard C. Steiner, author of the History of Guilford and Madison, Connecticut (1897). A barn on the property was attached to the house and a new wing added around 1960.