Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Architectural Style

The Mary Cheney House (1870)

A Second Empire-style house with a mansard roof, originally built in Manchester in 1870 by Frank Cheney, one of the original brothers of the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturers, was passed in to his daughter, Mary Cheney. She engaged in various philanthropic activities and Manchester’s Public Library is named for her. Located on Hartford Road, the house is now used by the South United Methodist Church as New Hope Manor, a residential school and treatment center for adolescent girls with mental health and substance abuse issues.

William S. Ingraham House (1890)

The house of William S. Ingraham, who for 40 years was the general manager of the E. Ingraham Company, a Bristol clock and watch manufacturer, is on Summer Street in Bristol. Built in 1890, the house was designed by the New York architects Babb, Cook & Willard in the Shingle Style, a variant of the Queen Anne style with shingles featured prominently. The house was heated by pipes connected to the Ingraham factory, Bristol’s first example of heating a house from outside, a practice to be followed by other factory owners in the city. It was also one of the first houses in Bristol to be electrified.

Simsbury United Methodist Church (1909)

Simsbury’s first Methodist church was built in 1840, centrally located in town on Hopmeadow Street. Remodeled and rededicated in 1882, it was eventually demolished in 1908 to make way for a new church building, designed in the Gothic style by architect George Keller. Built of red sandstone with terracotta roofs, the new church still followed the basic plan he had used for his early Grace Episcopal Church in Windsor, but now in a more mature style. Red sandstone had been used in the earlier church as well, although, in the period in between, he had used granite for the Elizabeth and Northam Memorial Chapels. The Simsbury church has a square castellated tower, similar to one in his design for the Ansonia Library. The Simsbury United Methodist Church also features stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch (1886)

When the city of Hartford chose to have an arch over a bridge (which once crossed the Park River, now underground) as its Civil War monument, it was seeking a design quite different from the usual types of Civil War monuments. It would be the first permanent triumphal arch in America. It is also one of the earliest monuments to use the term “Civil War.” A competition was announced, which irritated the architect George Keller–as a famous designer of Civil War monuments, he was unhappy not to be commissioned or even consulted. As all of the submitted designs went over budget, Keller was eventually able to reconcile with the city and plan the monument. The structure he created still remains a unique achievement for combining Classical and Gothic elements in a unified design. It is Keller’s most famous project (along with the James A. Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio). The monument, located on the edge of Hartford’s Bushnell Park, was built of Portland brownstone and was dedicated on September 17, 1886, the anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. The ashes of Keller and his wife were later interred in the east tower. The Arch was restored in 1986-1988, but has sometimes suffered damage due to cars crashing into it.

White Hall, Institute of Living (1877)

White Hall, part of the campus of the Retreat for the Insane (now the Institute of Living), was built in 1877 and was designed by George Keller, who also drew up plans for a number of other buildings at the Retreat, including Elizabeth Chapel. White Hall was originally constructed as a service building, used as a laundry, carpentry shop, vegetable cellar and coal storage vault. Later housing a swimming pool and squash courts, the building was vacant for a time until its recent restoration. It is now the home of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center.

Charter Oak Cultural Center (1876)

Connecticut’s first synagogue was built for Congregation Beth Israel, on Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford in 1876. The congregation’s earlier home, a former Baptist church on Main Street, was being razed for the building of the Cheney Block. Departing from his usual Gothic style, the architect of Temple Beth Israel, George Keller, utilized the Romanesque Revival style in his design. In 1898, with the congregation growing, the building was enlarged and renovated. The the width of the nave was altered to match the towers and the interior was elaborately stenciled. In 1936, the congregation moved to a new building in West Hartford. Today, the original Temple Beth Israel has been restored and serves as the non-sectarian Charter Oak Cultural Center.

Eizabeth Chapel, Institute of Living (1875)

Located on the grounds of the Institute of Living in Hartford (which had begun as the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, founded by Dr. Eli Todd), Elizabeth Chapel was donated by Dr. Gurdon Wadsworth Russell in memory of his first wife. Constructed in 1875 of Westerly Granite, the chapel was designed by George Keller, utilizing a variation on the same basic plan he had made earlier for his Grace Episcopal Church in Windsor.