Built in 1888, the Alanson Trask House, on Gillett Street in Hartford‘s Asylum Hill neighborhood (pdf), combines elements of the Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. The house has an impressively broad entrance arch and terra-cotta tiles covering the second story.
The earliest Methodist church in New Britain was built at the corner of Main and Walnut Streets in 1828, replaced by a larger building in 1854. This was in turn replaced by a new Trinity United Methodist Church, located on the east side of Main Street (and Chestnut Street). The new granite Richardsonian Romanesque church, designed by Amos P. Cutting of Worcester, was built in 1889-1891. By 2000, the congregation could not afford the costly repairs the building required and voted to demolish the church. Local citizens formed a committee to save the church, which has now become Trinity-on-Main, a non-profit art center, education facility, community space and venue for events.
The Slater Memorial Museum was begun in 1886 and dedicated in 1888 on the campus of the Norwich Free Academy. It is one of only two fine arts museums in the United States on the campus of a secondary school. The Museum was donated by William Albert Slater in memory of his father, the wealthy industrialist and philanthropist John Fox Slater. The building was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by architect Stephen C. Earle of Worcester and was expanded in 1906 with the addition of the Converse Gallery, donated by Charles A. Converse. The Museum‘s collections include regional American paintings, plaster casts of classical and Renaissance sculpture, and Asian, Pre-Columbian, Native American, African and Oceanic art. The use of plaster cast copies were a way American museums over a century ago would bring great European works to the American public. In 1891, at a time when the Metropolitan Museum was developing its own collection of plaster casts, a cast committee traveled from New York to Norwich to observe the arrangement of the Slater Memorial Museum’s collection and meet with William Albert Slater. The Slater Memorial Museum continues to be an educational resource for the Academy and the area community.
Around 1890, St. John’s Episcopal Church, the first Episcopal church in Essex, was built in Centerbrook, near what is today the Essex Steam Train station. At the time, the Essex Village section of town was becoming more prominent, so around 1800 the church building was moved to Prospect Street. In 1897, a new church was constructed at Main and Cross Streets. This 1897 church contains many stained glass windows taken from the earlier building. The church was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by Bridgeport architect Joseph W. Northrup (he also designed houses and his plans were used in other parts of the country, including a house in Texas). In 1999, a new construction project linked the church to the adjacent parish house. The church rectory is the Richard Hayden House on Main Street.
Seymour’s old two-and-a-half story High School, with its imposing bell tower, was built in 1884 to 1886. At one time considered one of the most efficient and well-equipped high schools of its kind, the institution grew over the years and an annex building was constructed next door. Finally outgrowing the available space, a new high school was built in 1916 and the old buildings, known as the Center School and Annex, became an elementary school until 1977. After briefly housing the Seymour Historical Society museum in three of its classrooms, the old high school building has since been converted into offices for private businesses. The Annex building now contains the Seymour Board of Education, Senior Center, and a nursery school and teen center.
Congregation Tephereth Israel in New Britain was formed in 1925 when orthodox Lithuanian immigrants withdrew from the conservative Temple B’nai Israel. The synagogue on Winter Street, which combines elements of the Romanesque and Colonial Revival styles, was built in 1925 to 1928 and was designed by Adolf Feinberg, an Austrian-born architect who arrived in the United States in 1921. Feinberg also designed Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford. Congregation Tephereth Israel, which today has a small membership, is undertaking a building repair program. For five decades, Rabbi Henry Okolica has been spiritual leader of the Orthodox synagogue, as well as serving as Jewish chaplain at Central Connecticut State University.
This is Historic Buildings of Connecticut’s 900th post, excepting the two April Fools posts, which some people have taken too seriously! What is that famous quote often attributed to P.T. Barnum? Well, with that in mind, let’s keep to the Barnum theme! The Barnum Museum is a place worth celebrating in an anniversary post, as it is a surviving legacy from one of Connecticut’s most important historical figures. P.T. Barnum had his famous American Museum in Manhattan, but this later burned. Barnum built four successive mansions in Bridgeport, where he served as mayor in 1875, but only a few traces of these survive today. The museum in Bridgeport which today bears his name was built in 1893 as the Barnum Institute of Science and History and originally housed a resource library and lecture hall. The building, which reflects the influence of Byzantine, Moorish and Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, was constructed of stone and terra cotta after Barnum‘s death using funds he had bequeathed for the purpose. The original societies which occupied the building ceased operation during the Great Depression and the city of Bridgeport assumed ownership in 1933. In 1943 the museum was closed for remodeling, reopening in 1946 as a city hall annex. In 1965, the city offices were removed and the building was again remodeled to reopen as the P. T. Barnum Museum in 1968, with exhibits about Barnum and the history of Bridgeport. The museum, which since 1986 has been operated by the Barnum Museum Foundation, was renovated in 1986-1989 and is today the only museum dedicated to the life of P. T. Barnum
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