Waterbury American Building (1894)

On the night of February 2-3, 1902, a massive fire destroyed nearly all of downtown Waterbury. One of the survivors of the conflagration was the facade of the Waterbury American Building on Grand Street. The Richardsonian Romanesque building had been constructed in 1894 to the plans of Theodore B. Peck, who also designed the Apothecaries Hall building, constructed the same year in Waterbury. The American newspaper was started in 1844 and merged with the Republican in 1924 to become the Republican-American.

Williams Memorial Institute (1891)

The Williams Memorial institute opened as a high school for girls on Broad Street in New London in 1891. The school was privately endowed by a bequest from the estate of Harriet Peck Williams as a memorial to her son, Thomas W. Williams II, a mechant who died in 1855. After New London High School opened in 1951, the Institute became a college preparatory school. The Williams School moved to the campus of Connecticut College in 1954. The Richardsonian Romanesque-style former school building, designed by the firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, became a courthouse of the Connecticut State Judicial system in 1972. The state purchased the building in 1997. It has recently been renovated.

Seaside Institute (1887)

The Seaside Institute is a Richardsonian Romanesque building, erected in 1887 at the corner of Lafayette and Atlantic Avenues in Bridgeport. Designed by Warren R. Briggs, it was built by the brothers, Drs. I. D. Warner and Lucien C. Warner, across Atlantic Street from their corset factory. With seven eighths of their 1,200 employees being women, the Seaside Institute was built to provide the female workers with various amenities. As described in Volume II of Rev. Samuel Orcutt’s A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport (1886),

It comprises a Restaurant, Free Reading Room, Library, Bath Rooms, a large Public Hall, and Rooms for Evening Classes. It is a very elegant and substantial building of granite, brownstone and pressed brick, costing $60,000

The Seaside Institute‘s dedication ceremony was attended by Frances Folsom Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland. Much lauded at the time for its role in remedying what was called “the problem of the working-girl,” the Institute continued to serve its original purpose until changing times led to its dissolution in 1929. The building was next owned by the Bridgeport Herald and, since 2007, has been home to Bridgeport International Academy, a private high school. (more…)

Meriden Armory (1908)

The imposing Meriden Armory on East Main Street was built in 1908. Once home to a National Guard unit, the Armory hosted dances and sporting events, including Meriden native Max E. Muravnick‘s first professional boxing match. The National Guard closed the Armory in 1998 and sold it to a private developer. The building has remained closed and is difficult to market due to its deteriorating condition and lack of parking.

Tower on Fox Hill (1939)

The War Memorial Tower on Fox Hill in Rockville, Vernon, was constructed between 1937 and 1939 as a memorial to Veterans of all wars from the town of Vernon. Before it was built, an earlier tower made of wood had stood on the site. Built by a Mr. Jeffrey of Meriden, it stood from 1878 until it was destroyed in a blizzard in 1880. Visitors were charged 15¢ to climb the tower and use the telescope at the top. The ruined building was not restored, but around 1889 the artist Charles Ethan Porter, Jeffrey’s brother-in-law, was using the surviving first floor as his studio. By 1923, the last remains of the structure had disappeared. The new Memorial Tower, built of stone, was designed by Walter B. Chambers of New York and was modeled after a 1500 year-old Romanesque tower near Poitiers, France. The WPA provided the labor and materials. The Tower is in Henry Park, named for E. Stevens Henry, a merchant and politician, who bequeathed Fox Hill and the surrounding area to the city of Rockville.

Park Congregational Church, Norwich (1874)

As related in A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut, Volume 1 (1922), during the pastorate of Rev. Malcolm McGregor Dana at the Second Congregational Church of Norwich:

The feeling that its helpfulness to the community would be increased by removal to the suburban district near the Academy led to marked differences of opinion with the majority of his parishioners, and in 1874 Dr. Dana resigned and, with one hundred and five of his old members, formed the Park Congregational Church.

The church, built in 1874, was designed by Stephen C. Earle of Worcester in the Romanesque Revival style.

Rockwell Building, Norwich (1860)

The Rockwell Building is a distinctive flatiron-type structure at 97 Main Street, with storefronts facing Main and Market streets in downtown Norwich. Associated with John A. Rockwell, a lawyer who lived with his family in the Wauregan Hotel, the Rockwell Building was built around 1860 in the Romanesque Revival style. It has an impressive cast iron addition, designed by C. H. Preston in 1895. In 1890, when the building was home to the Snell Business College, it was described in The Leading Business Men of Norwich and Vicinity, Embracing Greeneville and Preston as follows: “This is a handsome building, made of Philadelphia pressed brick, with white granite casings, situated in the very heart of the city, commanding a perfect view of the harbor and the city’s principal thoroughfare.” (more…)