Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Christopher Huntington House (1720)

Christopher Huntington (1660-1735) was the first male child born to the English settlers of Norwich. Known as Christopher Huntington II or Deacon Christopher Huntington, he was a surveyor and extensive land owner who served as first townsman (selectman) and town clerk. He married Sarah Adgate (1663-1705) in 1681. His second wife was Judith Stevens Brewster, widow of Jonathan Brewster, who he married in 1706. Christopher Huntington had four daughters and seven sons. His house in Norwich, built c. 1720, is located at 410 Washington Street.

W. E. Sessions House (1878)

Before manufacturer William E. Sessions built his mansion Beleden in Bristol in 1910, he lived in an adjacent house built in 1878. The house then passed to his son, W. K. Sessions. Like Beleden, the 1878 house once had a two-story music room with a pipe organ, but this was later removed when the house was converted into a multi-family dwelling. A few years ago the house, which is located at 36 Bellevue Avenue, was in a boarded-up state, but it has recently been restored and prominently displays its elaborate stick style exterior decoration. (more…)

Asahel Strong House (1830)

Asahel Strong (1781-1863) was a farmer and a prominent citizen of Durham who served as Justice of the Peace and five terms as a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly. Strong had a Federal-style house on Fowler Avenue, but also had a vernacular house, built c. 1830 on Main Street on parsonage land he leased from the First Ecclesiastical Society of Durham for 999 years (essentially a way for the Society to sell it). Another house built on this parsonage property is the Robinson-Andrews House, located just south of the Strong House. The 1830 house remained in the Strong family until the 1850s.

Dr. Ashbel Woodward House (1835)

The Dr. Ashbel Woodward House is located at 387 Route 32 in Franklin. It is a Greek Revival house, built in 1835 (or, by some accounts, 1824). It was once the home of Dr. Ashbel Woodward. Born in Willington in 1804 and educated at Bowdoin College, Dr. Woodward served the medical needs of Franklin residents from 1829 until his death in 1885. He also served as a surgeon with the 26th Connecticut Regiment in the Civil War. Dr. Woodward kept a farm and the property has a number of agricultural outbuildings. A local historian and genealogist, Dr. Woodward wrote a number of historical and biographical papers and delivered an address on the history of Franklin on October 14, 1868. His descendants gave the house and land to the state in 1947 and it was later used by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection as part of a wildlife study site. The state sold the house to the town of Franklin in 2000 and in 2004 it opened as a historical museum displaying artifacts from the town’s history.

Tracey-Watson House (1760)

At 3 Devotion Road, at the intersection of routes 14 and 97 across from Scotland Green in Scotland, stands the Tracey-Watson House. Once used as a tavern, it was built for Lemuel Pettengill circa 1760. The house is currently home to the editorial offices of Tea A Magazine. There is also an historic barn on the property.

Andrew Clark House (1740)

Although the Haskell House, also known as the Andrew Clark House, at 45 Ross Hill Road in Lisbon, is a central-chimney house built in 1740, its facade displays the elegant detailing of the architecture of the Federal Period (1780s-1820s). These alterations were probably made in 1798, as that date appears in a panel set in the chimney. The National Register of Historic Places nomination for the house gives its date as 1798. Owner Andrew Clark died in 1831 and when his widow, Elizabeth Partridge, died in 1858 she left the house to her sister, Dolly Partridge Herskell (aka Haskell) and her husband, George B. Herskell. The house then became known as the Haskell House. It underwent extensive restoration in 1967.

William Park House (1913)

At 330 Main Street in the village of Hanover in the town of Sprague is a Craftsman-style American Foursquare house. It was constructed in 1913 by builder Peck McWilliams. The house was a wedding gift for William Park (1889-1971) from his father, mill-owner Angus Park, at the time of William’s marriage to Ruth Standish. The William Park House has stuccoed walls with Tudor-style decorative half-timbering and a porte-cochere on the north side.

Born in Galashiels, Scotland, Angus Park (1859-1929) emigrated with his family to Canada, where over twenty years he grew successful in the wool textile industry. As related in Men of Mark in Connecticut, Vol. V (1910):

He was employed there until 1894, when he came to East Lyme, Connecticut, and became secretary of the Niantic Manufacturing Company, being associated with an uncle, D. E. Campbell, and with a brother, William Park. He remained there until August, 1899, when he severed his connection with that concern and purchased the Allen Mill and properties at Hanover, Connecticut, which property is now known as the Airlie Mills. This mill had been closed for some time, and consequently was in poor condition. Mr. Park remodeled the mill and installed new and modern machinery at a great outlay of money. The mill is now one of the best in this region, and the product is a high grade of woolen and flannel suiting. In March, 1903, when the Assawauga Company, of Dayville, Connecticut, was organized Mr. Park became its manager, and one of its largest stockholders. In 1907, Mr. Park purchased the properties of the Crosby Manufacturing Company, at East Glastonbury, Connecticut, and organized the Angus Park Manufacturing Company, of which he is the treasurer and general manager.

The Park family woolen company prospered under the direction of Angus Park and then under his son William Park. The company continued in business until 1973.