The Daniel Judd House (1730)

The Daniel Judd House in Farmington (not to be confused with the 1875 Daniel Judd House in Cheshire) is a colonial saltbox home built around 1725-1730. The house was built on land that Daniel Judd inherited from his parents, William and Mary Steele Judd, early settlers of Farmington. Judd sold his house to his oldest surviving son, James, in 1741 and it was willed to James Judd, Jr. in 1779, although the younger James lost his money and the property was foreclosed on in 1805. It then passed through various owners until it was acquired by James O’Rourke in 1874. In 1890, O’Rourke rented the house to Theodate Pope, daughter of the wealthy industrialist Alfred Atmore Pope. She soon purchased the house in 1892. Calling it the “O’Rourkery” after its previous owner, Pope hired the architectural firm Hapgood and Hapgood to restore the house. Some years later, she added a side entrance porch to the house and would continue to make other alterations to the building over the years.

In 1896, she acquired the property next to her home, which included an earlier, seventeenth-century dwelling, possibly built for William Judd. She had this building moved and attached to the O’Rourkery as an ell. Calling it the “Gundy,” Pope opened the ell in 1902 as an “Odds and Ends Shop” for students at Miss Porter’s School. Pope would later persuade her parents to settle in Farmington, using her experiences in restoring the O’Rourkery in designing for them the famous Hill-Stead estate. She would go on to design a number of other buildings. Theodate Pope later resided at Hillstead with her husband, John Wallace Riddle, but continued to own the O’Rourkery, using it as a retreat. After her death, the estate, including the O’Rourkery, became the property of the Hill-Stead Museum. The Gundy shop continued in operation under various people until 1969, but in 1975 the Museum sold the house. It is now a private residence. Behind the Gundy today is a notable (private) Colonial Revival garden.

24 Lewis Street, Hartford (1840)

The former house, now a business, at 24 Lewis Street in Hartford was built around 1840. It has been attributed to the builder Austin Daniels, who also probably constructed the two adjacent buildings. Stylistically, the house represents the transition from the Federal to the Greek Revival styles and is typical of houses built in Hartford in the decades before the Civil War. The Italianate-style front portico was added later in the nineteenth century and the enclosed porch is a later Colonial Revival addition.

The James R. Lanyon House (1903)

The house at 96 Cornwall Avenue in Cheshire is an American Foursquare built in 1903. It was constructed for James R. Lanyon, who was born in New Hamburg, NY, but five years later came to Cheshire, where his grandfather, James A. Lanyon, had been superintendent of the Barite Mines. Lanyon served as town clerk of Cheshire for 59 years, from 1894 to 1953. He served in the Connecticut General Assembly and chaired the Republican Town Committee. As described in Taylor’s Legislative Souvenir of Connecticut for 1901-1902, “Mr. Lanyon has been the recognized leader of his party in Cheshire—its leader without being its boss—thus winning the admiration of his party associates and the profound respect of his political opponents. He is a highly respected member of the Masons and Odd Fellows.”

Monte Cristo Cottage (1840)

In 1886, actor James O’Neill purchased an 1840 house at 138 (now 325) Pequot Avenue in New London. O’Neill initially rented out the home, while he and his family spent their summers at a neighboring property that he had acquired two years before. In 1900, the O’Neills began summering in the 1840 house, which James O’Neill named Monte Cristo Cottage in honor of his most popular stage role as the Count Of Monte Cristo. Before moving in, O’Neill made a number of changes to the house, including adding the turret bedroom, the French doors opening onto the front porch, and attaching a one room schoolhouse, moved from elsewhere, to become the living room. Comfort was sacrificed in the family’s section of the house in order to focus funds on the house’s public spaces. The actor’s son, the playwright Eugene O’Neill, spent his boyhood summers at the Cottage from 1900 to 1917. After being struck by a car on Fifth Avenue in New York in 1918, James O’Neill’s health began to deteriorate. He sold the Cottage and his other real estate on Pequot Avenue just before his death in 1920. The house is now a museum, owned by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Restoration began in 1972, with a new restoration in 2005 to reflect the setting of O’Neill’s autobiographical play, Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Cortland F. Luce House (1920)

Formerly the estate of Cornelius J. Vanderbilt, Jr., West Hill Drive was one of the earliest planned sub-divisions in West Hartford. Many of the Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival houses constructed there in the 1920s were designed by architect Cortland F. Luce, who also designed his own house at 6 West Hill Drive. Built in 1920, the house combines elements of the two styles which dominated the neighborhood, being a Tudor Revival cottage with a Palladian window typical of the Georgian Colonial Revival. To learn more about Colonial and Tudor Revival houses in West Hartford, check out my article on the subject in the Architecture section of this site!

The Maj. Peter Curtis House (1786)

Maj. Peter Curtis was a blacksmith in Farmington who served as an officer in the army at every battle in which George Washington commanded during the Revolutionary War. In 1769 he had purchased the property formerly owned by Thomas Norton, replacing the earlier house, at the corner of Farmington Avenue and High Street, with his new house, built by Judah Woodruff in 1786. Curtis later served as the first keeper, or warden, of Newgate Prison in East Granby, from 1790 to 1796. His family occupied the house until 1822, when it was sold to William Whitman, who opened it as a tavern, with a ballroom on the second floor. After his death in 1876, the tavern was run by his son Charles L. Whitman, of whom it was said, as related in Farmington, Connecticut, the Village of Beautiful Homes (1906),

He and his father for many years kept a tavern in Farmington. in the days when there was much teaming through this town. The place was famous in all the region, partly on account of Mrs. Whitman’s excellent pies and cake. When one’s ancestors have been among those who serve the public with care and courtesy, it seems to become second nature in the descendants to be very polite. This might explain Mr. Whitman’s genial manners, but I am inclined to believe it was more a special goodness of heart. He was also for many years one of the directors of the bank and an appraiser.

In the 1920s, rooms in the house were rented to two women for use as a tea room and antiques business. In 1938, the house was acquired by Dr. Walls Bunnell, who moved it to its present location at 4 High Street. Where the Whitman Tavern had originally stood, Dr. Bunnell created the shopping complex known as Brick Walk Lane, composed of various historic Farmington buildings he preserved by having them moved to the site.

285 Bolton Center Road, Bolton (1720)

The house at 285 Bolton Center Road in Bolton originally stood at the corner of High and Wadsworth Streets in East Hartford. It was moved to Bolton in the early 1990s by historic home restorers Len and Betty Matyia. The house, which may have been built as early as the late seventeenth century through around 1730, has been linked to the original Hartford proprietor William Hill, who traveled with Rev. Thomas Hooker to found the new settlement in 1636. Hill was captain of Hartford’s first trainband on the east side of the Connecticut River. The discovery of a connection with Hill in 1992 led to some controversy concerning the removal of the historic house from East Hartford. Restored to a post-Medieval appearance, the house is now situated in a rural colonial setting with an adjacent post and beam barn.