Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Greek Revival

District #1 School House, Bethlehem (1865)

On Main Street, across from the Green in Bethlehem, is the former District #1 Schoolhouse, also known as the Center School. One of nine district schools in town, it was built in 1865 (or perhaps in 1832?) and later, after the district schools were consolidated in 1914, served for many years as the town library. It was then used by the Episcopal Church for their summer fair and other events. The building was moved south to its present location in 1912 when Memorial Hall was built next door. Restored by the Old Bethlem Historical Society, the school is now a museum.

Rev. George Mixter House (1842)

According to A Century of Vernon, Connecticut, 1808-1908 (1911):

The history of the Baptist denomination in the vicinity of Vernon begins as far back as 1842, when at the request of several brethren a meeting was held on April 8 at the home of Thomas King in Ellington “to consult upon the propriety of constituting a Baptist church in said town.” In the afternoon of that day the church was organized, but this organization disbanded in 1845, but before doing so the membership had grown to thirty-two members. Rev. George Mixter was the first pastor.

The same year the church was founded, Rev. Mixter built a Greek Revival house at 113 Main Street in Ellington. As related in The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I (1898), by Henry R. Stiles:

Rev. George Mixter was born in Monson, Mass., Jan. 7, 1795. He had no distinctively theological education, but began to preach in Monson and Wilbraham about 1835. He was ordained and settled at Wales, Mass., in 1836, and removed from there early in 1842 to Ellington, where he remained about three years. He afterwards preached at various places in eastern Connecticut till 1862, when he gave up pastoral work on account of failing health, but continued to preach occasionally. He died at Somerville, Conn., Jan. 8, 1879.

The Mixter House once had a Greek Revival entrance portico. In recent years, it was replaced with a Colonial Revival door surround.

Samuel M. Darby House (1842)

Samuel M. Darby built the house at 57 Maple Street in Ellington in 1842. In 1861, he sold the property to John H. Throk, who sold it to Edward W. Barber in 1869. It remained in the Barber family, passing from Edward to his widow, and then to his daughter Fannie Barber.

Timothy Higgins House (1828)

(Update: above is a new picture of the house taken on July 10, 2014). The Timothy Higgins House in Plantsville in Southington is a Greek Revival residence built in 1828. Deacon Timothy Higgins (1800-1887) was born in Wolcott. He came to Southington and started a tannery on Prospect Street, on Eight Mile River. According to Chapter Sketches: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution; Patriots’ Daughters (1904):

Jennette Carter was born in Southington September 5, 1803, the third child in a family of five. She was married to Timothy Higgins November 4, 1824, and became the mother of eleven children, only three of whom are now living. Nearly ten years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins became members of the Congregational Church in Southington. Forty years later their church membership in Southington was transferred to the church in Plantsville.

Edward Twichell, the father of Rev. Joseph Twichell, the friend of Mark Twain, was Higgins’ apprentice and later business partner. (more…)

Captain John Brittin House (1836)

140 Ellsworth Street, Black Rock, Bridgeport, Fairfield County, CT, USA

At 140 Ellsworth Street in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport is a house built in 1836 for Captain John Brittin, who owned a shipyard). The house was remodeled around 1890, when its original full Greek Revival pediment was removed. The house’s original kitchen wing was later removed and is now a separate residence at 33 Hackley Street.

13 West Mystic Avenue, Mystic (1840)

13 West Mystic Avenue, Mystic, Groton, New London County, Connecticut, U.S.A.

The Greek Revival house at 13 West Mystic Avenue in Mystic was built in 1840 by the Chapman family. From 1956 to 1961, it was the home of Captain (later Admiral) James F. Calvert, who commanded the USS Skate, the third US nuclear submarine to be commissioned and the second submarine to reach the North Pole. Skate first went under the polar ice cap on August 11, 1958, but the thickness of the ice prevented it from surfacing. Skate later became the first submarine to surface at the North Pole on 17 March 1959.

15 South Street, Litchfield (1819)

The building at 15 South Street in Litchfield, associated with the name Charles Webb, was built in 1819. Its current Greek Revival appearance and front porches are likely due to later alterations. It is a surviving example of the early nineteenth-century commercial structures, with residences above the first floor, that were common in Litchfield at the time. Many similar buildings on West Street were lost a fire in 1886, which destroyed much of the village center. 15 South Street is now home to South Street Antiques.