Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Sheldon’s Tavern (1760)

The house built by Elisha Sheldon, on North Street in Litchfield in 1760, is commonly known as Sheldon’s Tavern, because it served as one in the late eighteenth century. There is a tradition that George Washington slept in the house. In 1795, the house’s then owner, Uriah Tracy, hired builder William Sprats to add the central pavilion and Palladian window, which resemble those of the house Sprats designed for Julius Deming across the street. Tracy was a US Congressman and Senator. His son-in-law, James Gould, was the partner of Tapping Reeve at the Litchfield Law School and continued running it after Reeve’s death. The Tavern, also once known as the Gould House, is notable for having shingles rather than the clapboards typical in the eighteenth century.

The Hezekiah Thompson House (1760)

Hezekiah Thompson, born in New Haven in 1735, decided to set aside his occupation as a saddler at the age of 30 and began to study the law. In 1760, he built a house in Woodbury, where he was one of the town’s first lawyers, continuing his practice until 1795. Thompson also served in the State Assembly. The house was owned by the Averill family in the nineteenth century and was known as the Averill Mansion. The Hezekiah Thompson House and Garden were restored in 1983 and again in 2007. Today the home houses an antiques dealership (specializing in Swedish antiques), but is currently for sale.

Nathan Hale Homestead (1776)

This Fourth of July we celebrate Connecticut’s State Hero by featuring the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry, now a historic house museum operated by Connecticut Landmarks. In 1776, Nathan Hale, who was gathering intelligence for George Washington and the Continental Army, was captured by the British and hanged in New York as a spy. Before his death, he is said to have spoken the famous last words, possibly derived from Addison‘s influential play, Cato, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” In that same year, his father, Deacon Richard Hale, razed and rebuilt the family homestead (the Hales had lived on the property since 1740) to provide more space space. Nathan Hale had been born in the earlier house, built in 1746, and would never see the new house, which was completed a month after his execution. Deacon Richard Hale died in 1802. By the early twentieth century, the house was in disrepair, but was purchased in 1914 and restored by George Dudley Seymour, a lawyer and antiquarian who was great admirer of Natan Hale. He also purchased the nearby Strong-Porter House, home of the uncle of Nathan Hale’s mother. When Seymour died in 1945, the house was bequeathed to the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, now Connecticut Landmarks.

Today’s Independence Day post at Historic Buildings of Massachusetts is Boston’s Faneuil Hall!

Ebenezer W. Beckwith House (1854)

Built on Prospect Hill Road in Cromwell in 1854, the Ebenezer W. Beckwith House is one of very few Octagon houses in Connecticut. The house served as a residence and boarding school, which by 1866 was known as the Mineral Springs Military Institute. Later, the house was rented by Dr. Winthrop B. Hallock as a retreat for the insane. In 1887, Hallock purchased the house from Beckwith’s daughter and it became the main structure of the private sanitorium known as Cromwell Hall. After Cromwell Hall closed in the 1950s, the house became the administration building for Holy Apostles College and Seminary. Various additions have been added to the building over the years, including the porte-cochere.

Judah Woodruff House (1760)

Judah Woodruff, a descendant of Matthew Woodruff, one of the original proprietors of Farmington, fought in the French and Indian War and was a captain in the Revolutionary War. He was also a builder who constructed the First Church and 21 houses in Farmington, including his own. The Judah Woodruff House, on Mountain Spring Road, was built in 1760 and features a Connecticut River Valley doorway.

The Samuel N. Kellogg House (1877)

Built around 1877, the Samuel N. Kellogg House, on Washington Street in Hartford, is the only survivor from the time when the area was a leafy and elegant neighborhood called “Governor’s Row.” This fairly restrained Second Empire-style house was built for Samuel N. Kellogg, who was a brother-in-law of the retired dry goods merchant and Hartford financier Francis Cooley.

Ruth Callander House (1715)

The Ruth Callander House, also known as the White-Overton-Callander House, is on Main Street in Portland and was built around 1715 by Nathaniel White. The house was later expanded with a rear section to cover the well. Ruth Callander was a resident of the house in the twentieth century. She was a charter member of the Portland Historical Society and upon her death she bequeathed her house to become a museum of the town’s history. It opened to the public in June 2003 as the Ruth Callander House Museum of Portland History.