Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Bates-Scofield Homestead (1736)

The Bates-Scofield Homestead is a colonial saltbox-style house, built around 1736 in Darien for John Bates, who lived there until 1774. The house was later deeded to John Bates, Jr. Before Darien’s first meetinghouse was built, services were held in the Bates House. After the Bates family, the house was owned by the Scofield family for almost a century, starting with Ezra Scofield in 1822. By 1964 the house faced demolition, until it was given to the Darien Historical Society and moved to a new site to become a museum. In 2005, the 1827 Scofield Barn was also donated to the Society and dismantled. In 2008, the barn was reunited with the house and joined to it by a new connector building.

The Jesse Hurd House (1812)

The Jesse Hurd House, built of stone with bold Federal detailing, is the most impressive of the homes built in Middle Haddam (in East Hampton) during its period as a prosperous shipbuilding center. Jesse Hurd (1765-1831) was a prosperous shipbuilder and merchant who played a dominant role in the economic development of Middle Haddam. He built many ships for his partners, the brothers, George and Nathaniel Griswold, who ran the largest merchant shipping house in New York. Hurd owned shares in his vessels and cargoes, building cheaply in Middle Haddam and selling his shares in New York. In 1828, he patented new ship hoisting machinery which he had invented himself. This machinery more easily enabled the scraping and repairing of hulls. Hurd also joined the Griswolds in establishing the New York Screw Dock Company, a dry-dock facility on the East River which utilized the new technology. His impressive house in Middle Haddam, built around 1812, was most likely designed by a master architect/builder, whose name is currently not known. Shipbuilding in Middle Haddam began to decline after Hurd’s death in 1831.

The Jared Redfield House (1792)

The house which serves as a rectory for Christ Church in Guilford was originally built in 1792 for Jared Redfield. It was later occupied by Lorenzo T. Bennett, minister of Christ Church, whose widow later sold the house to the church. The Federal-style house has an off-center doorway and one of the two chimneys is further back than the other.

Clark Greenman House (1841)

Three brothers, George, Clark and Thomas Greenman, founded the the George Greenman & Co. shipyard in Mystic. The brothers soon built three adjacent Greek Revival homes along Greenmanville Avenue. The first was constructed by George in 1839 and this was followed by the houses of Clark and Thomas in 1841 and 1842. The Clark Greenman House has a porch and ornate Victorian decoration, which were added in the 1870s. The house was acquired by Mystic Seaport in 1949, initially serving as the museum’s library and now housing its administrative offices.

Benjamin Trumbull House (1790)

The Benjamin Trumbull House in Colchester was built sometime between 1790 and 1801. According to Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College with Annals of the College History, Vol. IV (1907), by Franklin Bowditch Dexter:

Benjamin Trumbull, the only son of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Trumbull (Yale 1759) who survived infancy, was born in North Haven, Connecticut, on September 24, 1769. He remained in New Haven for two years after graduation, filling the office of College Butler, and pursuing the study of law. On his admission to the bar he returned to the vicinity of the birthplace of his parents, and settled in Colchester, Connecticut, where he had a long career of usefulness. He was sent to the Legislature as a Representative eleven times between 1807 and 1831, and for about twenty years (1818-38) was Judge of the Probate Districts of East Haddam and Colchester.

Benjamin Trumbull’s son, Lyman Trumbull, was born and raised in the house. Lyman Trumbull later became a senator from Illinois and a founder of the Republican Party and an associate of Abraham Lincoln. He helped author the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ending slavery. The house is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail.

The John Marsh House (1783)

The John Marsh House, located near Hartford’s border with Windsor, is the only eighteenth century house remaining in the city’s North End. It was built in 1783 by Hezekiah Marsh for his son, John Marsh. The Marsh family farm has long since been developed and even the house’s front yard has been significantly reduced. The home’s Greek Revival doorway is a nineteenth century alteration.

The Captain John Johnson House (1795)

The community of Middle Haddam in the Town of East Hampton, like neighboring Haddam Neck, was once a shipbuilding center. Captain John Johnson, who had been a privateer, began a sail loft on his property at Knowles Landing, employing four women to sew the sails. His house, in the colonial cape style, was built around 1795 and has been much altered over the years.