Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Federal Style

First Congregational Church of Southington (1830)

Southington‘s First Congregational Church‘s first meetinghouse was built in 1726 and stood where Oak Hill Cemetery is today. It was constructed after the farmers of Southington had successfully petitioned to have a seperate church, independent of the Farmington parish. The first meetinghouse was used until 1757, when it was replaced by a new building, located closer to what is today the center of town. The third and current church was built in 1830. Located on Southington Green, the church has a very similar design to the Congregational churches in Cheshire and Litchfield.

Second Congregational Church, Derby (1845)

Derby’s Second Congregational Church, located on Derby Green across from Immanuel St. James Episcopal Church, began as the Birmingham Congregational Society, founded by members of the First Church who lived in what is now the center of Derby. The church was built in 1845 and dedicated on January 28, 1846. The top of the steeple was damaged by Hurricane Gloria in 1985 and has not been replaced.

Also, be sure to check out my new Architectural Article about SECOND EMPIRE & QUEEN ANNE HOUSES. Please let me know what you think of it!

First Congregational Church, Derby (1821)

Derby’s Congregational Church was organized in 1677. The first meetinghouse was built in 1681 and the second one in 1721-1722. The current church was built in 1821. Rev. Daniel Humphreys, father of David Humphreys, was minister in Derby for many years.

Simsbury 1820 House (1820)

The Simsbury 1820 House is an inn which is housed in an elaborate gambrel roofed Federal mansion. The house was built by Elijah Phelps, the son of Maj. Gen. Noah Phelps, who was a hero of the Revolutionary War. Elijah Phelps’s son-in-law, Amos R. Eno, became wealthy by investing the profits of his dry goods business in real estate in New York. He used the 1820 House as a summer residence. His grandson, Gifford Pinchot, a conservationist and governor of Pennsylvania, was born in the house in 1865. In 1884, Amos Eno retreated to the Simsbury House after his son, John C. Eno, embezzled millions from his father’s bank and fled to Canada. In 1890, Amos Eno added a large rear extension to the house, which was later inherited by his daughter, Anoinette Eno Wood, who called the home “Eaglewood,” in reference to her family’s patriotism and her last name. She had the house renovated in the Colonial Revival style. The house remained in the family until 1948, afterwards becoming a restaurant called the Simsbury House. When a developer bought the house and started to auction off its fixtures in the 1960s, the Town of Simsbury decided to purchase it. Little was done to renovate it, however, until in 1985 it was bought and restored by Simsbury House Associates to become an elegant inn.

The Gay Mansion (1795)

Ebenezer King built an elaborate Federal-style mansion, with two porticoed doorways, on North Main Street in Suffield in 1795. In 1811, he sold the house to William Gay, the son of Ebenezer Gay and a prominent lawyer and postmaster of Suffield, who ran the post office from his house. The house came to be known as the Gay Mansion and remained the possession of descendants of the Gay family until 1916. The house is now the official residence of the headmaster of Suffield Academy. (more…)

Samuel Buckingham House (1817)

William Alfred Buckingham, governor of Connecticut during the Civil War and later a U.S. Senator until his death in 1875, was born in 1804 in a house in Lebanon, which was later moved (see comment below) by his father, Deacon Samuel Buckingham, who built a new house on the location between 1808 and 1817. The new Federal-style Buckingham house was later altered through the addition of Victorianizing features, like the bay windows on the front facade.

Osborne Homestead Museum (1840)

The Osborne Homestead Museum is adjacent to the Kellogg Environmental Center and the Osbornedale State Park in Derby. It was originally a farm house built in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1867, Wilbur Fisk Osborne married Ellen Lucy Davis and the couple moved into the house. Osborne’s father, John White Osborne, had founded a brass manufacturing company in Derby which came to dominate the eyelet manufacturing business. Wilbur F. Osborne served as president of various companies and also founded the Derby Neck Library, persuading Andrew Carnegie to assist in funding the library building’s construction. The Osbornes‘ only surviving child was Frances Eliza Osborne, who became a businesswoman, taking over her father’s responsibilities after his sudden death in 1907. In 1919, she married Waldo Stewart Kellogg, a New York architect. Starting in 1910, a Colonial Revival remodeling project began on the house, with additional detailing work done by Waldo Kellogg. The homestead now resembles a Federal-style house. Frances Osborne Kellogg continued to live in the house until her death in 1956. She had deeded her property to the State of Connecticut in 1951 and it became the Osbornedale State Park. The land was once home to the Osbornedale Dairy, which was run by Waldo Kellogg, who improved the herd after the acquisition of a prize bull. The house is open to the public as the Osborne Homestead Museum.