Gardella Block (1880)

The two adjoining business blocks at 46-52 and 42-44 Main Street in Ansonia are both referred to as the Gardella Block in the nomination for the Upper Main Street Historic District. They are part of a row of five buildings (along with the Sentinel Block at 36 Main Street, the Hotchkiss Block at 54-64 Main Street, and the building at 70 Main Street) that were erected c. 1880 (or as early as sometime before 1875) by the W. & L. Hotchkiss Company and distributed after the company dissolved in 1885. George Gardella, who came to Ansonia from Italy in 1882, opened a fruit, nut and confectionery business on Maple Street 1883. He moved his business to 46 Main Street in 1910 and retired in 1931, passing his business to his two sons. Another notable Gardella in Ansonia was Pasquale Gardella, an Italian immigrant who ran a peanut stand at the Maple Street bridge. After the stand burned down about 1896 he rented a store in the Ansonia Opera House on Main Street.

Sentinel Block (1881)

The Ansonia Housing Authority is located at 36 Main Street in Ansonia, at the end of a row of adjoining commercial blocks on the west side of Main Street, just south of the intersection with the Maple Street Bridge. The building displays the date 1881 under its cornice. It is sometimes called the Sentinel Block (it is given this name in the nomination for the Upper Main Street Historic District) because it was once home to the the offices of the Naugatuck Sentinel newspaper. In the book Derby and Ansonia (in Arcadia Press’s Then and Now series, 2004), it is referred to as the Gardella Building, a name that the the Historic District nomination gives for the two adjacent buildings just to the south. (more…)

Morse and Norton’s Block (1880)

Morse and Norton’s Block is an Italianate-style commercial and apartment building built in 1880 at 72-80 East Main Street in Meriden. One of the two original owners of the building was Samuel L Norton (1821-1902). In more recent times, tenants had to abandon the building in early 2014 after the back wall of the eastern half partially collapsed. Work to repair the structure was greatly facilitated the following year when the building, still divided between two owners, became the property of a single owner.

Lockwood-Mathews Carriage House (1864)

The Carriage House of the historic Lockwood–Mathews Mansion in Norwalk (both are located in Mathews Park) was built around the same time as the main house, 1864. It was completed before the mansion and was not designed by the architect of that building, Detlef Lienau. Like the main house, the Carriage House is constructed of ashlar blocks, but the simplicity of its overall architectural effect is far more subdued than that of the lavishly decorated mansion. The Carriage House has a hipped roof that was once surmounted by a cupola, or belvedere, with a widow’s walk. It is thought that the building was originally set up to have carriages in the west wing, horse stables in the east wing, and a multi-purpose work and storage area in the center pavilion, with hay stored in the second story. The City of Norwalk acquired the property in 1942 and converted the Carriage House to a police building. The stables were converted into jail cells. Later, the city planning department moved into the building. In the 1990s the former Carriage House became the home of the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, a state-of-the-art printmaking facility.

Leverett G. Merrick House (1890)

The house at 200 Summer Street in Bristol was built c. 1890. It was originally the home of Leverett G. Merrick, a grocer who owned two stores. His wife lived in the house after Merrick’s death in 1916. Marvin Edgerton, Treasurer and superintendent of Penfield Saw Works in Bristol, was a later resident. By the mid-1980s the building had been converted to use as an office, with a new block added to the front, replacing the original front porch.

Tiffany Juliet House (1865)

The house at 82 Naubuc Avenue in the Curtisville neighborhood of Glastonbury was built c. 1865 by a member of the Welles family, which had cigar-making and shipbuilding interests in the area. In later years it housed workers from a nearby factory. The house was restored in the early 1990s and again a decade ago, when it became a bed-and-breakfast called the Tiffany Juliet House. The more recent work included the construction of a two-story rear addition to accommodate a nearly 750 square foot ballroom.