Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Zaccharias Walker House (1691)

A sign on the house at 337 Main Street South in Woodbury reads “Built by Zaccharias Walker 1691.” Also known as Zechariah or Zachary Walker, Rev. Zaccharias Walker led a group of religious dissidents from the church in Statford to found the town of Woodbury in 1673. He became the new town’s first Congregational minister. The house was probably built for Rev. Walker’s son, also named Zaccharias (Deacon Zachariah Walker). Born in Statford in 1670, he married Elizabeth Miner around 1689/1690, about a year before the house was built.

Stephen Spencer House (1754)

Built in 1754, the house at 43 Park Street in Guilford was originally home to Stephen Spencer, a blacksmith who had his forge on the south side of the house. In the 1840s and 1850s an upstairs room was rented for use as a schoolroom. In the 1870s, the south wing of the house was added by owner Daniel Auger. Elias Bates bought the house in 1894 and it remained in the Bates-Burton family for over a century.

Rev. Andrew Storrs House (1766)

Rev. Andrew Storrs was the second minister of the Plymouth Congregational Church. He built a house on the Green (4 Park Street), c. 1764-1766, where he lived during his pastorate of twenty years (he died in 1785). In front of the house, which once had a center chimney, is a sycamore tree that was planted by Rev. Storrs. The property also includes a large nineteenth-century barn. In 1853, Rev. Isaac Warren founded the Hart Female Seminary, which was located in the Storrs House and remained in operation until 1857. A wing, which Rev. Warren had added for the school, was later detached from the house to become a private residence (2 Park Street), serving as the Congregational parsonage after 1865. (more…)

Henry K. Terry House (1850)

The Henry K. Terry House, at 14 North Street in Plymouth, is a Greek Revival house with a particularly broad entablature. Henry K. Terry was a grandson of clockmaker Eli Terry. Later owned by the Taylor family, the house was a station on the Underground Railroad and had tunnel leading from the cellar to an outbuilding. The house has a later Colonial Revival front porch.

Charles F. Loomis House (1862)

For Halloween I’m presenting an appropriately Victorian house, the Italianate-style Charles F. Loomis House in Suffield. Located at 257 North Main Street, the house was built in 1862 for a member of the wealthy Loomis family. For more images of the house and a discussion of its architecture, check out this post at the blog The Picturesque Style: Italianate Architecture.

Asa Welles House (1852)

Currently dedicated to office use, the Italianate house at 2534 Main Street in Glastonbury was built circa 1852. It was originally the home of Asa Welles, who may be the same Asa Welles (1821-1869) who was a silversmith.

Jotham Woodruff House (1790)

The house at 137-139 Woodruff Street in Southington was built c. 1790 (it was once thought to have been built in 1735). It was the home of Jotham Woodruff (1771-1859) and his son Lewis (born 1803). Jotham Woodruff married Esther Lewis in 1793. The house has a later Greek Revival doorway and gable ends.