Architectural Style - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Sheldon’s Tavern (1760)

The house built by Elisha Sheldon, on North Street in Litchfield in 1760, is commonly known as Sheldon’s Tavern, because it served as one in the late eighteenth century. There is a tradition that George Washington slept in the house. In 1795, the house’s then owner, Uriah Tracy, hired builder William Sprats to add the central pavilion and Palladian window, which resemble those of the house Sprats designed for Julius Deming across the street. Tracy was a US Congressman and Senator. His son-in-law, James Gould, was the partner of Tapping Reeve at the Litchfield Law School and continued running it after Reeve’s death. The Tavern, also once known as the Gould House, is notable for having shingles rather than the clapboards typical in the eighteenth century.

First Congregational Church of Litchfield (1829)

Litchfield‘s first meeting house was built on the Green in 1723, the second in 1761 and the third in 1829. In 1873, a fourth church, in the High Victorian Gothic style, was built and the 1829 Federal-style structure, with its steeple removed as was typically done with deconsecrated churches, was moved around the corner. In the coming years it would serve as a community center and theater, known as Amory Hall or Colonial Hall. In the early twentieth century, tastes had shifted back from favoring the Gothic to an interest in the Colonial Revival. In 1929, the Gothic church was demolished and the 1828 church returned to its original site on Torrington Road and restored, complete with a new steeple (1929-30). Reconsecrated, it continues today as the First Congregational Church of Litchfield.

Harkness Memorial Tower (1917)

The most recognizable structure at Yale University is the Harkness Memorial Tower. Designed by James Gamble Rogers, with ornamentation by the sculptor, Lee Lawrie, the Gothic-style tower has long stood as a symbol for Yale. It was constructed between 1917 and 1921 and was donated by Anna M. Harkness in honor of her deceased son, Charles William Harkness, Yale class of 1883. Rodgers, who designed many buildings at Yale in the Collegiate Gothic style, was also the architect for the Harkness family. He said the design for the Tower was inspired by the 15th-century tower of “Boston Stump,” the parish church of Saint Botolph in Boston, England. Apparently, the often told story that Harkness Tower was once the tallest freestanding stone structure in the world is a myth. Inside, the Tower contains the Yale Memorial Carillon, which was originally installed in 1922 and expanded in 1964. It is played by Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs.

The Hezekiah Thompson House (1760)

Hezekiah Thompson, born in New Haven in 1735, decided to set aside his occupation as a saddler at the age of 30 and began to study the law. In 1760, he built a house in Woodbury, where he was one of the town’s first lawyers, continuing his practice until 1795. Thompson also served in the State Assembly. The house was owned by the Averill family in the nineteenth century and was known as the Averill Mansion. The Hezekiah Thompson House and Garden were restored in 1983 and again in 2007. Today the home houses an antiques dealership (specializing in Swedish antiques), but is currently for sale.

Nathan Hale Homestead (1776)

This Fourth of July we celebrate Connecticut’s State Hero by featuring the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry, now a historic house museum operated by Connecticut Landmarks. In 1776, Nathan Hale, who was gathering intelligence for George Washington and the Continental Army, was captured by the British and hanged in New York as a spy. Before his death, he is said to have spoken the famous last words, possibly derived from Addison‘s influential play, Cato, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” In that same year, his father, Deacon Richard Hale, razed and rebuilt the family homestead (the Hales had lived on the property since 1740) to provide more space space. Nathan Hale had been born in the earlier house, built in 1746, and would never see the new house, which was completed a month after his execution. Deacon Richard Hale died in 1802. By the early twentieth century, the house was in disrepair, but was purchased in 1914 and restored by George Dudley Seymour, a lawyer and antiquarian who was great admirer of Natan Hale. He also purchased the nearby Strong-Porter House, home of the uncle of Nathan Hale’s mother. When Seymour died in 1945, the house was bequeathed to the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, now Connecticut Landmarks.

Today’s Independence Day post at Historic Buildings of Massachusetts is Boston’s Faneuil Hall!

Hendrie Hall (1894)

Hendrie Hall, named in honor of John William Hendrie, was originally built in two sections to house Yale’s Law School. The earlier rear section was built in 1894 and the remainder in 1900. Designed by the architects Cady, Berg & See of New York in the Renaissance Revival style, with a facade resembling a Venetian palazzo, Hendrie Hall was intended to be the first of several grand Yale buildings along Elm Street. In the end, these were never built and the street’s much older wooden houses have survived. Since the Law School moved in 1931, the building has served various purposes and currently houses student music groups and offices.

Also, check out today’s entry at Historic Buildings of Massachusetts: Boston’s Old City Hall of 1865!

Ebenezer W. Beckwith House (1854)

Built on Prospect Hill Road in Cromwell in 1854, the Ebenezer W. Beckwith House is one of very few Octagon houses in Connecticut. The house served as a residence and boarding school, which by 1866 was known as the Mineral Springs Military Institute. Later, the house was rented by Dr. Winthrop B. Hallock as a retreat for the insane. In 1887, Hallock purchased the house from Beckwith’s daughter and it became the main structure of the private sanitorium known as Cromwell Hall. After Cromwell Hall closed in the 1950s, the house became the administration building for Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Various additions have been added to the building over the years, including the porte-cochere.