James Spargo was a Bridgeport housing contractor. In 1889 he built row houses at 580-4 Kossuth Street in East Bridgeport which are interesting for their combination of Queen Anne and Richadsonian Romanesque architectural features. One of the original residents of one of these houses was Rev. Henry M. Sherman, who had been rector of Calvary Church in Colchester and Trinity Church in Torrington, the latter from 1876 to 1890.
The house at 499 Washington Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1877 for attorney Goodwin Stoddard. The house’s Victorian design has been compromised by the large modern addition which hides most of the original front of the building below the roof-line. Formerly the Spadaccino Funeral Home, the building is now owned by the Bridgeport Apostolic Church. According to Volume 2 of the Encyclopedia of Connecticut Biography (1917):
Goodwin Stoddard, of Bridgeport, son of Joseph and Sophia (Buddington) Stoddard, was born in Bethany, New Haven county, Connecticut, April 2, 1847. His education was completed at the University of Albany, where he was graduated in 1867, and where also he pursued his professional studies. He was admitted to the bar in New York State and Connecticut in 1868. He began practice in 1868 and immediately engaged in the trial of causes in Fairfield and adjacent counties, where he became one of the most eminent lawyers of the Connecticut bar. He was connected with many of the important cases, and served an important and influential clientele. Mr. Stoddard died July 26, 1909.
Mr. Stoddard married, October 21, 1875, Julia E. Sanford, born October 20, 1855, daughter of Edwin G. and Emily Adeline Sanford, of Bridgeport. They were the parents of two sons, Sanford and Henry B.
The Hose and Hook and Ladder Truck Building in Thomaston, also known as the Thomaston Firehouse, was built on Main Street in 1882-1883. Using brick produced by the Seth Thomas family brickyard nearby, it was designed by architect Robert Wakeman Hill, who also made the plans for the Thomaston Town Hall and Opera House built next door in 1884. The firehouse was designed to accommodate two separate volunteer companies, Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 and Hose Company No. 2, and therefore had two separate entrances, two stairways and two social rooms. The Firehouse continued in use until 1979, when a new firehouse was built in town. Still owned by the town, the building’s interior was remodeled and it served as a teen center for a time.
The Queen Anne house at 385 Barnum Avenue in East Bridgeport was built in 1892 for A.W. Burritt, owner of a lumber company. In 2007, the house was acquired by the Bridgeport Rescue Mission and renovated to serve as a shelter for homeless women.
The house at 401 Noble Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1887 for Moses Redshaw, a toolmaker. According to his obituary in The Iron Age, Vol. 100, No. 9 (August 30, 1917):
Moses W. Redshaw, Bridgeport, Conn., general superintendent of the Bridgeport works of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., was killed Aug. 22 by a a fall through a hole in the floor of the factory, where repairs were being made. Mr. Redshaw was 65 years old and had been connected with the business for 45 years.
The George Gould House, built in 1896 for an oyster dealer, is located at 110 Ellsworth Street in Black Rock in Bridgeport. It is similar in some respects to the neighboring Arthur Smith House, another Queen Anne structure, although the Gould House’s tower is not on the side, but off-center along the main facade gable.
The son of house builder David Smith, Arthur Smith was born in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport in 1847. After going to sea in his youth, he went into the coal business and later founded Smith’s Express Company. In 1893, he built a house in Black Rock at 118 Ellsworth Street (he had had an earlier house at 260 Brewster Street). The house was constructed by the Gould Brothers, local builders who lived nearby in Black Rock.
You must be logged in to post a comment.