The Italianate house of Daniel Hand, at 47 Fair Street in Guilford, was built in 1878-1879 by the builders George W. Seward and Sons. Daniel Hand, born in Madison, was a businessman and philanthropist, who died in 1891 at the age of ninety. Please Read on to learn more about what happened to Hand during the Civil War and his act of generosity 25 years later:
In 1852, Guilford builder William Weld constructed an Italianate house (possibly based on a design by Henry Austin) on Boston Street for his brother, the whaling captain Frederick Alonzo Weld, who was captain of the Italy out of Greenport, Long Island. Capt. Weld died in 1893 and a memorial epitaph, written by Henry Pynchon Robinson, was published in Guilford Portraits (1907).
The Benjamin Bradley House, on Boston Street in Guilford, is an Italian-style villa built in 1860. Benjamin Bradley was the son of Benjamin Bradley and Juliana Leete. The house’s builder was William E. Weld, who also constructed the very similar house of Julie Labadie on Whitfield Street. It has been suggested the that house may have been designed by New Haven architect Henry Austin (see A Treasury of Guilford Places (2008), by Joel Eliot Helander, p. 270).
A tavern, known as the Riverside Inn, was built on the future site of today’s Gelston House, in East Haddam, by Jabez Chapman in 1736. From 1776 to 1825, the property was operated by the Gelston family. It was next owned by Joseph Goodspeed. In 1853, the core of the current building was erected by the Gelston Hotel Company, a corporation formed by a number of East Haddam residents and headed by George Gelston. This was known as the Gelston House and later the Swan Hotel. In 1876, the Goodspeed Opera House was built next door and today the Gelston House is owned by the Goodspeed Opera House Foundation and has a Restaurant and guest rooms.
Built in 1850 in Windham Center, the home of Miss Laura Huntington is an excellent example of the Italianate style.
The home of Norwich’s twelfth mayor, Gurdon Chapman, was built on Broadway in 1850. When he died, he left the house to his niece and it remained in the family until 1946, when it was sold to the Sullivan family. According to The History of New London County, Connecticut (1882), compiled by Duane Hamilton Hurd:
Gurdon Chapman was born in North Stonington in 1792. He went to Norwich in early life and engaged in trade, which subsequently developed into a large grain business, which he prosecuted during the remainder of his life with great financial success. He died in 1862, aged seventy-two years. During his life he was a marked character in the public affairs of the city. Overcoming the obstacles presented by a lack of early education, so common among the country boys of his day, by dint of study and close observation, aided by strong, native, common sense and a remarkably retentive memory, he qualified himself for a leader among his fellow-men and for the high positions of trust which they conferred upon him. For many years he was a member in turn of both branches of the city government, and from 1843 to 1845 was mayor of the city. He was also frequently called to responsible positions in the affairs of the town. He was a clear thinker, a forcible and fluent public speaker, and in all his public and private relations was highly respected and esteemed for his integrity, the kindness of his heart, and the soundness of his judgment as an advisor.
The 1852 Italianate home of Capt. Henry S. Stark and his wife, Mary Rathbun Stark, is on West Mystic Avenue in Mystic. Mary Stark supervised the construction because her husband, a ship captain, was in command of a bark voyaging to Italy. The avenue was called Skipper Lane because many ship captains built homes there. Capt. Stark also made voyages to Mexico and Hawaii. His wife accompanied him on his voyage to Honolulu from 1854 to 1856 on the clipper ship B.F. Hoxie. Mary Stark wrote a series of letters during the voyage, many to her daughter, Lizzie Stark, describing her experiences.
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