Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Gothic

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1874)

The Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church traces its origin to 1833, when the first African American church in Hartford split into two congregations. One was Talcott Street (now Faith) Congregational Church and the other later became Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion, which is Hartford’s oldest black Methodist congregation. With earlier church buildings having been located on Elm street and later on Pearl street, the congregation moved to the current church, on Main Street in Hartford’s North End, in the late 1920s. This High Victorian Gothic church was built in 1874 as North Methodist Episcopal Church and in 1926 it was bought by Emmanuel Synagogue, the interim owners until the building became the Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church.

Second Congregational Church, East Hampton (1855)

The Second Congregational Church of East Hampton was organized in 1740. This church originally served the communities of both Middle Haddam (pdf) and Haddam Neck, but these separated in 1855, when the Second Congregational Church was built in Middle Haddam. The church was moved to its present site in 1864 and was completely rebuilt in 1877 in the High Victorian Gothic style, to a design by Henry Austin. Today, the church remains the most imposing and architecturally significant building in Middle Haddam.

Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford (1838)

Samuel Johnson, the first Episcopal clergyman in Connecticut, organized Christ Church in Guilford in 1744. The Episcopalians first used a small church, built in 1748 and located within the bounds of Guilford Green. In 1834, the church was sold, with the proceeds financing the construction, in 1834-1838, of a new Gothic-Revival church with a grandly imposing tower. Local builder William Weld constructed a chancel in 1872 and another addition, for an organ, was built in 1890.

Haddam Neck Congregational Church (1874)

Haddam Neck, on the east bank of the Connecticut River, was originally settled around 1710. For thirty years, the residents made the trip each Sunday across the River to attend church services in Haddam. In 1740, residents of Haddam Neck joined with those of Middle Haddam (in East Hampton) to form a seperate ecclesiastical society, the First Congregational Church of Middle Haddam. The first meetinghouse was constructed in 1744 on Hog Hill, between the two communities, and this was replaced by a new building in 1813, located near Hurd Park. Middle Haddam residents withdrew to form their own church in 1855. The current Haddam Neck Congregational Church, a wooden Gothic Revival church in a woodland setting, was built at the foot of School House Hill in 1873-1874. In 1916, Haddam’s old 1822 schoolhouse was moved adjacent to the church to serve as a parish house.

The Cook-Dallas House (1832)

In 1832, Joseph K. Selden built a house on Quarry Hill Road in Haddam Neck, although the following year he moved to Ohio. The house was purchased by Harris Cook and was later rented and then purchased by Alexander Dallas, a stonemason born in Scotland. After a fire in 1880 nearly destroyed the house, Dallas rebuilt the originally Federal style house, changing the facade to reflect the Gothic Revival.

Phelps Hall, Yale University (1895)

Phelp’s Hall, designed to resemble a massive Tudor gatehouse, was built in 1895 as the grand entry to Yale’s Old Campus. Designed by Charles C. Haight, it was the last structure built along the row of Yale buildings facing New Haven Green, which was once occupied by the Old Brick Row. With the exception of Connecticut Hall, the earliest buildings of the Old Campus, including Brick Row, were replaced in the later nineteenth century, with the Gothic Revival style now dominating the campus.

The Daniel Judd House (1875)

The Daniel Judd House is a c. 1875 Gothic Revival cottage with a later, Colonial Revival-style porch, at 253 West Main Street in Cheshire. Judd was an undertaker and carpenter who may have crafted the house’s woodwork himself. This includes the decoratively carved barge boards which are typical of the Gothic Revival style.