Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Samuel Smith House (1834)

Samuel Smith, a Bristol clockmaker, built his house on Maple Street, in Bristol’s Federal Hill neighborhood, in 1833 or 1834. The house is in the Greek Revival style, but also features excessively ornate elements of the earlier Federal style in the pediment. Smith made clocks for his business partner, Chauncey Boardman, who sold them in an adjacent house (the home that is now in between was moved there in 1914). The Boardman House, originally built for the clockmaker Benjamin Ray, is also Greek Revival in style.

George H. Seyms House (1880)

The High Victorian Gothic-style George H. Seyms House, on Collins Street in Hartford, is attributed to the architect George Keller. George H. Seyms (1849-1915) was Chemist of the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance and Inspection Company. The house was damaged by fire in December of 2002.

Lafayette S. Foster House (1850)

Lafayette Sabin Foster was a U.S. senator and judge on the Connecticut Supreme Court. His Italianate-style house, built in the 1850s on Broadway in Norwich, was acquired in 1953 by the Norwich Free Academy. It housed the Norton-Peck Library until the library collection was later moved to another building. The Lafayette Foster House is now part of the NFA’s Latham Science and Information Center, which was connected to it.

First President’s House, Wesleyan University (1837)

A house on High Street in Middletown was constructed in 1837-8 in the Greek Revival style to serve as home for Wilbur Fisk the first president of Wesleyan University. It served as a house for Wesleyan’s presidents until 1904 and then as the Dean’s House until 1967. It is currently the Center for the Americas, housing the departments of American Studies and Latin American Studies.

Savage-Butler Homestead (1806)

The Savage and Butler Homestead, a Federal-style house on Main Street in Cromwell, was built in 1806 by a sea captain named Absalom Savage. After he died at sea of yellow fever in 1821, his widow, Sally Wilcox Savage lived in the house until her death in 1834, when it was inherited by their son, Ralph Bulkely Savage. His daughter, Carrie Augusta Savage married George Sylvester Butler, and the house has remained in the Butler family to the present. There is a pdf file about the house celebrating its 200th anniversary. (more…)

William Williams House (1748)

The William Williams House, at the intersection of CT routes 207 and 87 in Lebanon, was built sometime before 1748, when it was purchased by the Revered Solomon Williams. In 1755, Rev. Williams gave the home to his son, William Williams, who would be a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Samuel Latimer, Jr. House (1775)

The Samuel Latimer, Jr. House, built in 1775 near the Cove on Main Street in Wethersfield is a colonial house notable for the fact that it retains almost all of its original clapboards.

(more…)