Clock Tower Mill (1886)

clock-tower-mill.jpg

The Clock Tower Mill, originally called the Spinning Mill, was constructed in 1886, on the corner of Forest and Elm Streets in Manchester, as part of the Cheney family‘s mill village complex. The earliest mills of the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company were built in the 1830s along Hop Brook. As steam power superseded water power by the 1880s, the Cheney Brothers began to build in the area north of Hartford Road, starting with the Spinning Mills. The functional mill buildings feature some architectural decorations, including the Spinning Mill’s five-story Italianate clock tower. During World War II, the mill housed the Cheney Brothers’ Pioneer Parachute Co. (founded in 1938). There is an interesting story of a WWII private from Manchester who, about to jump over Normandy, was making a final inspection of his parachute and discovered it had been inspected by his own mother, who worked at the factory! Today the Clock Tower Mill is part of the Cheney Brothers National Historic Landmark District. In an example of adaptive reuse, the structure has been converted to apartments available for rent.

Calvin Day House (1852)

calvin-day.JPG

Built in 1852 for Calvin Day, on Spring Street, on Asylum Hill in Hartord. A typical Italianate example, with a slightly visible cupola, the Calvin Day House has lost its original gray color and much of its ornamentation. Calvin Day, a successful dry goods merchant, was the father of John Calvin Day, who married Alice Hooker, the daughter of John and Isabella Beecher Hooker. John and Alice’s daughter, Katharine Seymour Day, would preserve the Harriet Beecher Stowe and Day-Chamberlain Houses in the Nook Farm neighborhood of Hartford. Since 1929, the house has served as the Gray Lodge of the Shelter for Women.

Robinson-Smith House (1864)

robinson-smith.JPG

Built in 1864, on Charter Oak Place in Hartford, the Robinson-Smith house was occupied simultaneously by the families of two flour merchants, who were business partners of Charles Northam, Charles Robinson and James Smith. The house is quite extravagant for a double house and features aspects of different revival styles, including an Italianate cupola and a Second Empire mansard roof. The house’s original symmetricality has been altered by the additions on the left side (south elevation).