Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Queen Anne

Dr. Joshua Kendall House (1875)

Dr. Joshua Kendall came to the Humphreysville section of Derby (now the town of Seymour) from Pennsylvania in 1833 and practiced medicine in town for over fifty years. According to The History of the Old town of Derby (1880), by Samuel Orcutt and Ambrose Beardsley, Dr. Kendall,

attended medical lectures at Castleton University, Vt, where he graduated. As a physician and as a citizen he has been a leading and influential man; has been a most efficient member of the school board over thirty years, and has done good work for the advancement of education, temperance and sound morality in the town. He has been ardent and unyielding in his politics and represented Derby in the Legislature in 1849, before Seymour was organized as a new town.

Dr. Kendall’s 1875 house is at the corner of West and Church Streets in Seymour, across Church Street from the Dr. Sheldon C. Johnson House.

Albert Morgan House (1900)

In 1898, Edward and Abbie Buck sold a lot on Hartford Avenue in Wethersfield to Albert Morgan and his house was built soon afterward (around 1900). I don’t know if this is the Albert Morgan associated with the Albert Morgan Archeological Society. The house passed through other owners and was acquired by Charles H. Robbins in 1923. His, daughter Ethel, resided there until 1972, when she moved to Armsmear in Hartford. An “M” for Morgan on the house’s chimney support was inadvertently placed upside down when the chimney was rebuilt in 1973.

Deep River Public Library (1881)

Deep River’s town library was formed in 1900 and was at first located in a room in the Town Hall. Although plans had been made at various times to construct a library building, by the 1930s this had still not been done. Eventually, the 1881 home of Richard Spencer, who had been a President of the Deep River National Bank and a state senator, was purchased by the Library Association and donated to the town as a gift. The Queen Anne/Stick Style House, located on the corner of Main and Village Streets, was renovated and modified to become a library, under the direction of Harvey J. Brooks. The Deep River Public Library opened in 1933, with a new addition being constructed in 1995.

William Meggat House (1886)

The William Meggat House, built in 1886 on Hartford Avenue in Wethersfield, is now the rectory of Sacred Heart Parish. Meggat was a partner in the seed company Wolcott & Meggat. The house originally had a porch, which has since been removed.

Frank S. Brown House (1880)

The Queen Anne style house of Frank S. Brown, on Hartford Avenue in Wethersfield, was built sometime in the 1880s. Brown was a Hartford merchant who, in 1866, joined with James M. Thomson and William McWhirter to form the dry goods firm of Brown, Thomson & Co., which became a major New England department store. Brown retired from the company in 1890 and in 1893 the house was sold out of the Brown family. Ellsworth S. Grant, the Connecticut historian, former mayor of West Hartford and brother-in-law of Katharine Hepburn, was later born in the house. In 1920, Minnie Pricone and Mary Rometta, with their husbands and families, moved into the house. They owned the Marie Phillips Dress Company and tailoring work was done in the basement area of the house.

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Charles Tibbits House (1891)

The Queen Anne-style Charles Tibbits House was built on North Main Street in Wallingford in 1891 by Gordon W. Hall as a wedding present for his daughter, Georgianna, who had married Charles H. Tibbits. Hall was a founder of the silver manufacturers, Simpson, Hall, Miller and Company. Designed by the New Haven firm of Allen and Tyler, the house was constructed by the C.F. Wooding Company of Wallingford. Sold in 1961 to a doctor who reconfigured the interior, the house has been been restored since the 1990s to be a Bed & Breakfast called the Wallingford Victorian Inn.

The History Place, Columbia (1903)

Update (2-3-2019): Since this post was first written eleven years ago, “The Meeting Place” has been converted into “The History Place” and is home to the Columbia Town Historian, Town Historical Archives and the collections of the Columbia Historical Society.

The building in Columbia known as The Meeting Place was originally the town’s library. The first building of the Columbia Free Library was 120 square feet and opened in 1883. By 1903, when the library collection had outgrown this space, the old building was sold at auction and was moved to a new location to become a private home. The new library, named the Saxton B. Little Free Library after a benefactor, was used for the next 80 years, although there was no plumbing in the building and no parking space. Eventually, after all the available space had been filled, it was replaced by a third library building across the street. The former library then became The Meeting Place, where groups in town can gather. Members of the Columbia Lion’s Club had painted the exterior of the building and did some interior work when it was still the library. When it became The Meeting Place, the Lions did the landscaping of the property. Lions Club memorabilia is on display in a space inside.