Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Italianate

The John Pitkin Norton House (1849)

Henry Austin designed one of New Haven’s earliest houses to be modeled on the style of an Italian villa: the John Pitkin Norton House on Hillhouse Avenue. Built in 1848-49, the house was inspired by the design for a villa published by Andrew Jackson Downing. As seen in HABS documentation from 1964, the house had lost much of its original detailing by then. In 2003, exterior restorations were made. The house was built for the Yale science professor John Pitkin Norton, an agricultural chemist who wrote Elements of Scientific Agriculture. Some additions were later made, including the third floor. The house was acquired by Yale in 1923 and is now a building of the Yale School of Management.

The Byron Loomis House (1850)

Byron Loomis was the son of Neland Loomis, one of the six Loomis brothers who established themselves in Suffield as tobacco merchants (another brother was John Welles Loomis). Byron Loomis, who became one of the wealthiest tobacco barons in Suffield, may have built his Italianate house on South Main Street as early as 1850, or perhaps in the 1860s.

Winthrop W. Dunbar House (1890)

The Winthrop W. Dunbar House was built on South Street in Bristol around 1890. Winthrop Dunbar’s father, Col. Edward L. Dunbar, was a manufacturer of clock springs who was partners for a time (in the 1860s) with Wallace Barnes. After his father‘s death, Winthrop Dunbar, together with his brothers, Edward B. and William A. Dunbar, formed the Dunbar Brothers Company in 1872. This company was eventually taken over by the Wallace Barnes Company. The Italianate-style Dunbar House, which features a Second Empire tower, is now used for apartments.

The James Colt House (1856)

Built on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford for the brother of Sam Colt, the Italianate-style James Colt House was built in 1856. Like the other Italianate houses along the same block, including Sam Colt’s own Armsmear, with which it shares many design features, the James Colt House has been attributed to the architect Octavius J. Jordan. In 1976, the house was the first in Hartford to be restored with a grant from the National Park Service and Federal tax incentives.

The Edmund Hurlburt House (1860)

Built around 1860, the Edmund Hurlburt House is a great example of Italianate architecture, featuring an elaborate portico, with paired arched windows above, and a cupola. Hurlbut and his partner, James Ashmead, were in the goldbeating business. The house is located on Congress Street, which Hurlburt and Ashmead helped develop and which is now a historic district with many Greek Revival and Italianate houses. Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney, the founders of Pratt and Whitney, also lived on Congress Street.

Windham Town Hall (1896)

The town of Windham held its first public meeting in 1691. As the area of Willimantic grew after the Civil War, various buildings in the borough were used for town meetings. Having utilized a room in the Savings Institute building, in 1880 the town offices were settled in the Hayden Block. Rising rents forced another move to a space above a silk mill. By 1893, when Willimantic became a city, the need for a city hall and county court building was clear, one that would serve all of Windham. There was much dissension in town over the cost and location of the new structure. After some prolonged political battles among various factions, construction began in 1895 and was completed in 1896. The impressive Victorian style building , with its elaborate clock tower, was designed by the noted architect, Warren Richard Briggs, (author of the 1899 book, Modern American School Buildings). A detailed history of the Town Hall‘s construction can be found in four parts (1, 2, 3, 4) at the Thread City website.

Chamberlin Carriage House (1871)

Franklin Chamberlin was a Hartford lawyer who was also involved in the development of the city’s Nook Farm neighborhood in the nineteenth century. Probably as an investment, he built the house on Forrest Street in 1871 that was purchased by Harriet Beecher Stowe two years later. Around the same time, he sold the adjacent land nearby to Mark Twain to build his house. Finally, in 1884, Chamberlin built as his residence the house on Forrest Street, now known as the Katharine Seymour Day House. Earlier, in 1871, Chamberlin built the carriage house, adjacent to the Stowe and Day houses, that is now used as the Visitor Center of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. On the east elevation of the building, Chamberlin’s initials, are carved in brownstone above the side entrance. (more…)