The commercial building at 15 Water Street in Mystic was built in 1859 by Isaac Randall and Dwight Ashby, who were both involved in the whaling industry. It has had many owners over the years, housing many different stores and also serving as a boarding house. Since 1965, the building has been known as The Emporium. It has a store on the main floor filled with unique merchandise and an art gallery on the second floor.
A striking landmark of the village of Chester is the Old Stone Store, built in 1809. It has housed many businesses over the years, as well as a post office. In 1875, when Chester‘s earliest Library Association was founded, the library was located on the second floor of the building. At that time the building was a general store operated by J. Kirtland Denison, who also served as Town Clerk, succeeding his father Judge Socrates Denison in that position in 1877. The building’s prominent columns and Greek Revival pediment were probably added after the Store was built. The two side wings are definitely a modern addition.
On South Street in Litchfield, between St. Michael’s Church and the Benjamin Hanks House, is a building constructed in 1819-1820 by Phineas Miner as a law office. Later enlarged for use as a store by Silas N. Bronson, and for a time housing the collections of the Litchfield Historical Society, it has more recently been home to the Sanctum Club, a men’s club.
The Dillon Building, at 69-71 Pratt Street in Hartford, is named for Charles Dillon, a Hartford millinery merchant. The building was built in 1899 and designed by Isaac A. Allen, Jr. It has elaborate ornamentation on the upper floors, featuring decorative floral panels called Rinceau.
Located on Windham Center Green and owned by the adjacent Windham Library is the small gambrel-roofed former office of Dr. Chester Hunt. Built in 1790, it originally served as the office of Sheriff Shubel Abbe and was located behind his house at the south end of Windham Green. Abbe’s property was purchased in 1819 by Dr. Chester Hunt who then used the office until his death in 1869. Moved in 1948 to a spot between two other houses on North Road, the building was moved again in the 1980s to its current location where it was restored in honor of Julian Alden Weir and his wife, Ella Baker Weir, by his daughter, Cora Weir Burlingham and grandson, Charles Burlingham, Jr. The Library has recently renovated the office’s exterior and there are plans to open it as a museum.
At 21 South Street in Litchfield is a brick building built in 1846 as offices for Origen S. Seymour (1804-1881), a lawyer who served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1851-1855) and as a judge of the superior court of Connecticut (1855-1863). More about the life of Origen S. Seymour can be read in the book, Memorial of Origen Storrs Seymour, of Litchfield, Connecticut, published in 1882. The Greek Revival building continues to be used as offices.
Louis’ Lunch, established in 1895 by Louis Lassen, is a landmark New Haven restaurant where tradition holds that the first hamburger was served in 1900. Initially housed in a wagon, the restaurant was later added to a tannery building, where it remained into the 1970s. Threatened with demolition when the Temple Medical Center was being planned, Louis’ building was saved and moved to its current home on Crown Street in 1975. Friends and supporters sent bricks from all over the world to aid in the building’s reconstruction. Louis’ Lunch still uses broilers that date back to 1898 and the burgers are still served on bread (not buns) and ketchup and mustard are forbidden.
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