Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Romanesque Revival

Woodward Chapel (1924)

The earliest Episcopal church building in Westbury (now Watertown) was built in 1765. Called Christ Church, it was replaced by a new church in 1794 and then by a third building, located on the street called The Green, built in 1854-1855. That church was replaced on the same site by a new edifice, which still stands today, built in 1924 and designed by Allen & Collens to resemble an English parish church. The church was expanded in 1960 with the addition of a wing for a parish hall. In 2003, Christ Church became one of the “Connecticut Six,” parishes that clashed with Connecticut Bishop Andrew D. Smith over support for the naming of V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay Episcopal priest, as New Hampshire’s bishop. In 2007, the entire congregation severed its ties with the national Episcopal Church and left its church on The Green to become New Hope Anglican Church. In 2010 the former Christ Church was purchased by the nearby Taft School and was renamed Woodward Chapel.

Turn Halle, Rockville (1897)

The Turnverein was a German gymnastic/athletics movement. German immigrants to America founded Turnvereine in many communities, including the Rockville Turnverein, which was established in 1857. Members of the club (called Turners) built a Turn Halle on Village Street (a street that had strong associations with the German community) in Rockville in 1897. The building, which has been much altered, was later used by the Polish American Citizens Club.

Hazardville United Methodist Church (1872)

Happy Easter! Built in 1872 with funds provided by Col. Augustus Hazard (whose powder mill was 100 yards away), the Hazardville United Methodist Church is located at 330 Hazard Avenue in Enfield. The church‘s earlier building, constructed in 1835, still survives further west on Hazard Avenue. In 1923, a three story addition was built in the rear of the 1872 church that provided space for a Ladies Parlor, classrooms, kitchen and a heating plant.

Tempolo Sion Pentecostal Church, Hartford (1900)

At 1886 Park Street (corner of Amity Street) in Hartford is Tempolo Sion Pentecostal Church. The church was built in 1900 as St. Paul’s Methodist Church. Designed by George W. Kramer, it replaced an earlier St. Paul’s built in 1894. The Romanesque Revival church has a flexible design (following the Akron Plan) adapted to its relatively small urban lot. The church lost its steeple in the 1938 hurricane.

Battell Chapel, Norfolk (1887-1888)

Next to the Congregational Church in Norfolk, facing the Green, is the Battell Chapel, an impressive granite building constructed by Mrs. Urania Battell Humphrey of Brooklyn in honor of her parents, Sarah and Joseph Battell. Designed by J. Cleveland Cady of New York in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, it was built in 1887-1888 and given to the Congregational Church for religious uses. The church has five Tiffany windows, installed in 1929 as a gift from Ellen Battell Stoeckel. A wing was later added to the Chapel for offices.

Talcott Brothers School (1880)

Talcottville in Vernon was once a mill village based around the Talcott Brothers Company’s cotton-spinning mills. In mill villages, like Talcottville, the company would provide its workers with housing, as well as other services, like a library, a store and a school. The Talcott Brothers built a Romanesque Revival-style one-room school house in 1880 at 97 Main Street in Talcottville. It replaced the company’s earlier school house of c. 1860, which according to tradition, was moved across the street and became a residence. The Talcott Brothers School became part of the Rockville school system in the 1950s.

Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, Hartford (1928)

In 1896, Father Joseph Zebris of St. Andrew Church, New Britain organized the Sons of Lithuania Society in Hartford, offering Mass for the city’s Lithuanian immigrants in a rented room on Sheldon Street. 1900, when the mission filed a report with the diocese of Hartford, is officially regarded as the inaugural year of Holy Trinity Catholic Church. In 1903, the church purchased property on Capitol Avenue which included a two-story brick building which was converted into a place of worship. This brick dwelling was moved to the back of the lot in 1913 to make room for construction of a new church. The cornerstone was blessed on October 10, 1915 and a basement chapel was ready for use by Christmas of that year. The remainder of the church was completed in 1927 and was dedicated on March 18, 1928. (more…)