Update (07/03/2014): The photo above is a more recent image of the house submitted by Victor Di Paglia.The Victorian Italianate house with a Mansard roof at 43 Pearl Street in Mystic (Groton) was built in 1869 for Milton H. Ricker, a patternmaker. Ricker was Mason. He married Lucena Baylies Murphy in 1863. (more…)
A terrible tragedy took place yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut. My thoughts go out to this devastated community, which is such a beautiful place. The house pictured above, at 46 Main Street in Newtown, was built around 1865 and was the home of David Johnson, who ran the Newtown General Store across the street. The picture was taken a few years ago, in the Spring during happier days. (more…)
One of the prominent Victorian-era residences in East Haddam is the Boardman House at 8 Norwich Road. Luther Boardman and his son Norman S. Boardman owned factories which produced Britannia spoons and nickel, silver, and silver plated ware. The Boardmans built two notable mansions in East Haddam, one of which is the house at 8 Norwich Road, an Italianate villa built around 1860. The National Register of Historic Places nomination for the East Haddam Historic District lists the house as the Luther Boardman House, while an 1880 bird’s-eye-view of East Haddam lists it as the residence of N.S. Boardman. In more recent years, the residence housed an antiques shop and is today a luxury inn called The Boardman House. (more…)
Several religious congregations have used the building at 540 East Washington Street in Bridgeport over the years. It was built in 1866-1867 as the Bethesda Mission Chapel and Sunday School. It was later home to the East Washington Avenue Baptist Church (formed in 1874) and then to Congregation Adath Israel, the first Orthodox synagogue in Bridgeport. The edifice’s current cornice dates to 1902. Today the building is owned by the Apostolic Worship Center. The AWC purchased it in 1997 and completed renovating the sanctuary in 2002.
The Ira Frost House, at 1070 Marion Avenue in Southington, was built c. 1860-c. 1880. An L-shaped Italianate house, it is currently for sale.
After crossing the Housatonic River from Derby to Shelton, there are factories on either side of Bridge Street. The factory on the north side displays the date 1892. On the 1919 “Aero View of Shelton, Connecticut” published by Hughes & Bailey, the factory (located at 9 Bridge Street) is labeled the Robert N. Bassett Co., Inc., “Brass, Steel and Wire Specialties.” The company had begun across the river in Birmingham (now Derby) producing wire corsets. The upper two stories of the mill were added in 1912. The structure was later called the Birmingham Building.
At 24 Linwood Avenue in Colchester, next to the Cragin Memorial Library, is a historic house which is now home to the Colchester Historical Society. Built around 1840 by Reverend John Bates Ballard, a Baptist minister, it is transitional between the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The house remained in the Ballard family until 1908, when it was bequeathed to the Colchester Borough Baptist Church for use as a parsonage. After the Baptist congregation merged with the Colchester Federated Church in 1949, the house passed through various owners. By the 1990s, it was in a dilapidated state, but was saved with grant money and funds from the Colchester Historical Society (founded in 1963). It is now a museum of the town’s history.
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