Built in 1859 for James Ashmead, on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford, adjacent to the Day-Taylor House and across from Samuel Colt’s Armsmear. Ashmead and his partner, Edmund Hurlbut, were in the business of gold beating. Sam Colt’s nephew, Sam C. Colt, bought the Italianate house in 1865 and it was most likely he who added the Second Empire style tower and porte-cochere. A later owner added the Colonial Revival portico and pilasters on the corners. Today, the house is home to a legal firm.
Built in 1804 on Main Street in Wethersfield for Captain John Hurlbut, who had served on the Neptune, the first ship from Connecticut to sail around the world. In the 1850s, a later owner added Italianate features to this brick Federal style house. These additions include the projecting cornice with brackets, the entry portico, side veranda, and belvedere tower. Jane Robbins Dunham left the property to the Wethersfield Historical Society and it is now a historic house museum.
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Built in Hartford in 1858, this Italian villa is across Wethersfield Avenue from Armsmear. It was first bought by merchant Albert Day. Later owners included Mary Borden Munsill and Edwin Taylor. It had a notable restoration in 1979 and now serves as offices. A recent article discusses this house in relation to the ideas of Andrew Jackson Downing on the benefits of the Italian style.
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