Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Federal Style

The deKoven House (1791)

Captain Benjamin Williams built an impressive brick house in Middletown in 1791. As described in New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Vol III (1913), compiled by William Richard Cutter,

Benjamin Williams came to America from the Island of Bermuda when a young man, and settled in Middletown, Connecticut, where he died June 15. 1812, at the age of forty-five years. He built and lived in the house on East Washington street subsequently known as the De Koven place, and at present as the Wadsworth House, He became a large ship owner and had many vessels plying between the East and West Indies and the port of Middletown, the towns on the Connecticut river having extensive shipping interests in those days. Then came the war of 1812, and French privateers captured the greater number of his ships. He expected that the government would reimburse him for this loss, and died in the hope that his widow would receive what was her due, but this was never done.

The house was later owned by Henry L. deKoven, who was also involved in merchant shipping and was the first president of the Middlesex County Bank in 1830. In 1900. the house passed to Clarence Seymour Wadsworth, who used it as a business office after he built the Mansion on his Long Hill Estate. In 1941, he bequeathed the house to the Rockfall Corporation, which he had founded in 1935 and has been dedicated to environmental education, conservation projects and planning initiatives in Middlesex County. Restored in 1942, the house opened as a Community Center for non-profit organizations in Middlesex County.

The Mather-Douglas House (1811)

The Mather-Douglas House was built around 1811-1813, on South Main Street, off South Green in Middletown. It is a Federal style house with later Italianate additions. Built by a Mather, a later owner of the house was Benjamin Douglas, who was a factory-owner and politician. He was a founder of the W. & B. Douglas foundry company (Wesleyan’s Douglas Cannon was named after him) and he was a member of the state general assembly and mayor of Middletown from 1849 to 1855. He was an abolitionist and there is “strong circumstantial evidence” that his house was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The Diodate Shailer House (1816)

Diodate Shailer built his house on Saybrook Road in Haddam in 1816, the year of his marriage to Elizabeth Rutty. His son, Charles, later lived in the house until 1852, when it was sold to Capt. Leonard Buell, whose descendants owned the home until 1947. The Federal-style wood shingled house had later nineteenth century side porches added, which have since become additional rooms.

The Richard Douglass House (1801)

The Richard Douglass House, on Green Street in New London, is a gambrel-roofed house built in 1801. Richard Douglass was a cooper and served in the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. The house has a MySpace page.

Ebenezer Hayden II House (1795)

Ebenezer Hayden II (the first Ebenezer Hayden was a brother who was born earlier but had died) probably built his Georgian and Federal style house, located on Main Street in Essex, in stages in the late 1790s. The doorway, featuring a semi-circular fanlight window, may have been added around 1800. The Hayden House was the first home in the lower Connecticut River Valley to have a hipped roof, which may have been constructed by the noted builder Thomas Hayden of Windsor and shipped down the river in sections to be placed on the building. The Ebenezer Hayden House is the third home up from the river and one of many homes built by members of the Hayden family in the vicinity of the Hayden Shipyard. Ebenezer II married Sarah, the daughter of Grover L’Hommideau, who had created the town’s first ropewalk.

Lynde Point Lighthouse (1838)

A wood lighthouse on Old Saybrook’s Lynde Point was first lit in 1803. It was replaced by the current brownstone tower in 1838, which is similar to the earlier New London Harbor and Faulkners Island Lights, but is considered to be the finest of the three buildings. Lynde Point Light is an also referred to as the Saybrook Inner Light, in contrast to the Outer Light, or Saybrook Breakwater Light. A seawall was constructed to protect the original tower in 1829. The first keeper’s house stood from 1833 to 1858. This was followed by a Gothic Revival gambrel-roofed home, demolished in 1966 and replaced by a duplex, which houses Coast Guard employees. The Light was electrified in 1955 and automated in 1978.

New London Harbor Lighthouse (1801)

The New London Harbor Lighthouse, located on the west side of the harbor entrance, was built in 1801 and is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Connecticut. With its octagonal, brick-lined brownstone tower (with cast-iron lantern) rising to 89 feet, it is also the state’s tallest lighthouse. The present New London Harbor Light replaced an earlier stone tower with a wood lantern, built in 1761. The current Keeper’s house was built in 1863 and was enlarged in 1900. In 1904, the sound of a new fog siren annoyed local residents and in 1906 it was replaced with a trumpet. The fog signal was moved to the New London Ledge Light in 1911. Today, the detached Keeper’s house is privately owned, while the tower is maintained by the New London Maritime Society. New London Harbor Light is still an active aid to navigation.