Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Barbour-Cooper-Jensen Cottage (1905)

The summer cottage at 9 Pettipaug Avenue in the Borough of Fenwick in Old Saybrook has been described as a gem that is “particularly illustrative of shingle style architecture” (by Christopher Little in “A Summer Place,” Places, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1984). It was built in 1905 by Lucius B. Barbour (1878-1934) of Hartford (whose 1865 house on Washington Street still survives). Their daughter Alice was a childhood friend of Katharine Hepburn. In 1953, after the death of Barbour’s widow Charlotte Cordelia Hilliard Barbour, the cottage was sold to Richard F. Cooper and in 1961 it was sold again to Oliver Jensen (1914-2005), a co-founder of American Heritage Magazine. He was also one of the founders and the chief visionary for the 1971 revival of the Connecticut Valley Railroad (today part of the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat attraction). You can read more about the cottage in Marion Hepburn Grant’s The Fenwick Story (Connecticut Historical Society, 1974), pages 110-114.

Felix Starkey House (1803)

The house at 51 Main Street in Essex was built in 1803 by Thomas Millard, a shipcarver and housewright, and was the home of Felix Starkey from 1805 to 1856. Felix Starkey (1777-1856) was a merchant and the brother of Timothy Starkey. He married Esther Hayden. (The sign on the house reads “Timothy Starkey 1720”).

John Rose House (1747)

The John Rose House at 48 Bradley Street. in Branford was built c. 1747. The house was later altered in the Federal period. By 1897 the house was owned by John Buckley, who worked at Malleable Iron Fittings (MIF), which by 1915 was the largest employer in Branford.

Rock Ledge (1913)

James A. Farell (1863-1941), who was president of U.S. Steel from 1911-1932, built a Tudor Revival mansion in Norwalk in 1911. Designed by Edward Moeller, the original half-timbered building building burned down in 1913 and a new mansion, designed by Tracy Walker and Leroy Ward, was constructed to replace it. A granite structure, the mansion was modeled on Elizabethan country homes, the architects having been sent to England at Farell’s expense to do research for the building. Called Rock Ledge, it was used as a summer home by Farell. The mansion’s later owners included the Sperry Rand Corporation, which developed the UNIVAC business computer on the property, and Hewitt Associates. Located at 40 Highland Avenue in Rowayton, The mansion is now owned by Graham Capital Management LP and is known as the Rock Ledge Financial Center.

James Hall House (1786)

The house at 15 High Street in Suffield on the Green is an example of an eighteenth-century Cape Cod with very modern and large dormer windows. Known as the James Hall House, it was built in 1786.

Austin F. Williams House (1842)

Austin Williams was an abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad in Farmington. In 1841 he constructed a building on his property where the Amistad captives stayed until their return to Africa. After their departure, he built his own house (127 Main Street) just to the southeast and converted the dormitory into a carriage house. After the Civil War, Williams was a director of the Freedman’s Bureau of New England and New York.

Greenfield Hill Congregational Church Parsonage (1874)

At 3192 Bronson Road in Fairfield is the parsonage of the Greenfield Hill Congregational Church. It is a Greek Revival residence built in 1874. As related in Ye Church and Parish of Greenfield (1913), by George H. Merwin:

About the time Mr. Smith accepted the call to Greenfield, the parsonage matter was agitated again, perhaps to some extent due to the suggestion in the pastor’s letter of acceptance in regard to a home “for himself and family free from rent.” A committee consisting of Morris M. Merwin and Oliver Burr was appointed to investigate the matter. This committee, on June 24, 1873, reported that Dea. William B. Morehouse had that day purchased an acre of land of B. B. Banks for $1,000, and offered the same to the society for $400; and in addition Dea. Morehouse offered $1,000 more as his subscription towards a building. Other subscriptions were coming in rapidly, and the parsonage question was now solved. The following were appointed as a building committee: Oliver Burr, M. M. Merwin, Rev. H. B. Smith, Dea. W. B. Morehouse and Dea. N. B. Hill. Work was started at once by the contractor, Mr. Uriah Perry, but the building was not entirely completed until the spring of 1874, the pastor’s family living in the meantime in the small house owned by Mr. B. B. Banks.

Some of the items of expense in connection with the building of the parsonage are these:

One and one-fourth acres land $1300.

Contract for house $3575.

Extras on house $150.

Barns and out-buildings $405.

Well, etc. (dug by Joel Banks) $231.

Fences, painting, etc. $325.

Flagging stone, drain, etc. $200.

A vote of the society ordered that no more be spent on the parsonage than should be subscribed for that purpose, so no indebtedness was incurred.

A sign on a tree on the Parsonage property reads:

The Parsonage
Dedicated to
Rev. H.B. Smith in
1876, the Church’s
150th Anniversary