Frederick A. Benjamin Homestead (1864)

At 1135 West Broad Street in Stratford is an impressive Italianate villa, considered to be one of Connecticut’s best examples of the style. It was built in 1864 on the site of the old Benjamin Tavern where Washington and Lafayette are said to have dined on September 19, 1780. They were served potatoes, which were then a rare delicacy. Col. Aaron Benjamin served in most of the major battles of the Revolutionary War. His son, Frederick A. Benjamin, became a successful New York merchant. In 1852, Frederick A. Benjamin retired and returned to the old homestead in Stratford, which he soon replaced with a new mansion, designed by architect Frederick Schmidt. Benjamin’s son, Arthur Bedell Benjamin (d. 1914), was a prolific photographer and a yachtsman who owned the steam yacht Continental.

Portuguese Holy Ghost Society and Club of Stonington (1836)

Since 1929, the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society and Club of Stonington has used the house at 26 Main Street as its club building. Every year, the club celebrates the Azorean Holy Ghost Festival, a traditional feast that goes back to Queen Isabel of Portugal (1271-1336), also known as Elizabeth, who devoted herself to helping the poor and feeding the famine-stricken Portuguese people. She was canonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1625. The house was built in 1836 by Courtlandt Palmer (1800-1874), first president of the Stonington & Providence Railroad, and it remained in his family until 1913.

C. Gilbert Shepard House (1930)

One of the houses to be featured in The Friends of The Mark Twain House & Museum 32nd Holiday House Tour on Sunday, Dec. 2, is the Colonial Revival residence located at 4 Mohawk Drive in West Hartford. Built in 1930, the house is the work of architect Lester Beach Scheide and builder Louis Slocum. The house won a West Hartford Historic Preservation Award in 2005. The jury marveled at the amount of work done, which was based on extensive research and use of photographic evidence to restore the home’s former grandeur. The original plans for the house are in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, where it is described as a “House for C. Gilbert Shepard.” C. Gilbert Shepard was the son of Charles E. Shepard, whose own house, built in 1900, is on Prospect Avenue. The younger Shepard served as a lieutenant in France in the First World War. Like his father, he became an insurance agent. The Yale Club of Hartford gives the C. Gilbert Shepard Award each year to freshmen from the area who excel at scholarship and athletics.

Henry Aston House (1835)

The house at 324 Washington Street in Middletown was built around 1835. Transitional in style between the Federal and Greek Revival, the house was probably built by Henry Aston. The History of Middlesex County (1884) states that, “H. Aston & Co., pistol factory, in the employ of the United States, have fifty hands, and make six thousand pistols a year, worth $35,000.” The house remained in the Aston family until 1942 and is now owned by Wesleyan University (pdf).

Frank H. Tillinghast House (1870)

The Frank H. Tillinghast House, at 30 Main Street in Plainfield’s Central Village, was built around 1870. Frank Howard Tillinghast was a leading merchant in Plainfield. According to the 1889 History of Windham County, Connecticut, by Richard M. Bayles,

Frank H. Tillinghast, son of [Judge] Waldo Tillinghast, was born in 1860 in Plainfield. Mr. Tillinghast was educated at the Plainfield Academy and at Schofield’s Business College of Providence. He had charge of a store for his father at Packerville about two years prior to 1883. In October of that year he, in company with Mr. Palmer, purchased the goods in the Company store at Central Village, and it was run as Tillinghast & Palmer until July, 1886. At that time Palmer retired. and Mr. Tillinghast has since been alone. He was married in 1882 to Annie M., daughter of Olney Dodge. He is a republican and a member of Moosup Lodge, No. 113, F. & A. M.

As further related in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties (1903),

On Jan. 5, 1887, he was joined in a partnership with his brother, Fred W., the firm now being F.H. & F.W. Tillinghast. The business is assuming mammoth proportions, and the energetic partners are constantly expanding and covering new lines. In addition to a most complete and well arranged general stock, the firm now carry a well selected stock of furniture and carpets, curtains, and furnishings. In 1896 Mr. Tillinghast bought out the undertaking business of E.M. Anthony, at Jewett City, and since then he not only keeps a representative at that place but controls the business in Central Village. […] Mr. Tillinghast is prominent in both business and social circles in Central Village and locality, and is looked upon as one of the leading factors in the progress and development of his section. Energetic, progressive and public-spirited, his influence for the public good is felt in many directions; while his personal qualifications make him one of the most esteemed citizens of his town.