34 First Avenue, Waterbury (1875)

The house at 34 First Avenue in Waterbury is a Queen Anne-style house with an octagonal turret, built around 1875. The family of Richard Tennant, an immigrant from Scotland, occupied the house from the end of the nineteenth century until 1950. According to the Commemorative Biographical Record of New Haven County, Connecticut (1902):

Richard Tennant spent his boyhood and youth on the Scottish homestead, and availed himself of the opportunities of education presented by the local schools. After attaining his majority he went to Glasgow and served three years as an apprentice to the machinist’s trade, at the Neilson Locomotive Works. Howden & Co., marine engineers, had the young man in their employ for two years, and he was then with the London-Glasgow Engineering Co. one year. By this time Mr. Tennant had become an experienced and thoroughly efficient machinist, and his services were in demand. King & Co., a celebrated engineering house, counted him among their ablest employes. Only the desire to come to this country, where many of his compatriots had already reaped a rich reward for their courage and enterprise, induced him to break away from this firm. In 1871 Mr. Tennant came to the United States, and located in Paterson, N. J., where he was in the employ of the Rogers Locomotive Works until the close of the year 1873, and in the following spring he came to Connecticut, working for three months in Ansonia, and then for a year in Seymour, with the Swan Bit Co. Mr. Tennant then returned to Ansonia and engaged with Wallace & Sons until January, 1888, in which month he came to Waterbury to take a position with the Scovill Manufacturnig Co., where he is still at work. For a year Mr. Tennant was master mechanic for the Aluminum Brass & Bronze Co., at Bridgeport, and with that exception has been with the Scovill Co. since coming to Waterbury.

Hillbrow House (1718)

Hillbrow is a colonial house, built around 1718, at 74 Main Street in Newtown. Built, according to the original deed, at the “Head of Main Street,” the house gained its name from its position on the brow of the hill above the street. A granite marker in the front steps is engraved with the name “Hillbrow.” The land where the house stands was acquired by John Blackman in 1715. Later in the eighteenth century, it was owned by Ziba Blakeslee, a clockmaker, silversmith and bellfounder. As described in Newtown’s History and Historian: Ezra Levan Johnson (1917):

Ziba Blakeslee is said to have been a most skilled workman and manufactured all kinds of jewelry. His advertisement in the Farmers Journal, Dec. 22, 1792, shows that he carried on at the head of the Street in Newtown, the goldsmith’s business in all its branches; cast bells for Churches, made and repaired surveyor’s instruments, church clocks and clocks of all kinds.

Also, check out my most recent Massachusetts entry on the Library in Granville, designed by George Keller.

The Cook-Fowler House (1772)

Located across from the Public Library on Main Street in Durham, the Cook-Fowler House is a gambrel-roofed, central-chimney, “Cape Cod“-style cottage. It was built in 1772 by Jesse Cook, a carpenter, a year after his marriage to his third wife, Ann Griswold. Built by himself, the house was later given to Cook’s brother Thomas in 1790. It was later owned by the Lyman family and in 1860 became the home of William Chauncey Fowler, a professor, son-in-law of Noah Webster and author of a number of books, including Memorials of the Chaunceys (1858), The Sectional Controversy (1863) and History of Durham, Connecticut, from the first grant of land in 1662 to 1866 (1866). Two dormer windows were added to the house around 1850.

Cowles-Smith House (1836)

The Cowles-Smith House, at 536 Main Street in New Hartford, was built by Captain Henry Cowles in 1836. A blacksmith’s shop had once stood on the site, part of the grounds of a hotel, inherited by Henry Cowles from his father, Theodore Cowles. After experiencing financial reverses around 1840, Henry Cowles became proprietor of another hotel in Hartford, where he died in 1843. His widow and daughter then returned to New Hartford and occupied the old house until it was sold, in 1845, to John Cotton Smith. An entrepreneur, John C. Smith joined with his brother, Darius B. Smith, to establish the D.B. Smith & Sons cotton mill in Pine Meadow. He was also the agent of the Greenwoods Manufacturing Company. After his death in 1870, his widow continued to live in the house for many years. It is currently used for offices.

Lavinia L. Parmly House (1890)

The Parmly House, in the Marina Park district of Bridgeport, was originally built in 1890 by Lavinia L. Parmly, a wealthy New York widow. She used it as a summer home and, upon her death in 1894, bequeathed it to her grandson, Parmly S. Clapp, as a wedding present. He later became a New York City stockbroker. The house was later purchased by Allen W. Paige, whose widow, Elizabeth, donated it to the University of Bridgeport in 1950. Named Cortright Hall, in honor of E. Everett Cortright, first president of the Junior College of Connecticut (now the University of Bridgeport). Used at first as administrative offices, Cortright Hall now houses the Department of Public Relations.