Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Wetmore-Starr House (1752)

Built around 1752, on Washington Street in Middletown by Jeremiah Wetmore, on property that had once been part of the 1670 land grant to Rev. Samuel Stow, the town’s first minister. The house was purchased by Jehosaphat Starr in 1756, who enlarged the original central chimney home with an addition to the east elevation. This was done to accommodate his large family, which eventually grew to 14. Starr, a Major during the Revolutionary War, was married to Sarah Stow, who was a great-grand niece of Rev. Samuel Stow. The house remained in the family until 1851.

Hollister-Kinne House (1849)

Built in 1849 (the date 1841 is on the chimney in the attic), on Tryon Street in South Glastonbury, by the Hollister family (the 1649 John Hollister House stands nearby). Martin Hollister owned a gristmill and later a woolen mill up Roaring Brook. He was also a judge involved in the case of the Smith sisters. The house was later sold to the Kinne family, who still own the house. Since the 1970s, Nayaug Stables, an equestrian center, has been located on the property.

The Bedford, Massachusetts House (1682)

Originally built in the town of Bedford, Massachusetts in 1682 and moved to Main Street in Glastonbury in 1974. The Bedford Mass. House’s large central chimney and leaded casement windows are reconstructions of common features of post-medieval English houses (other examples include the Hyland, Stanley-Whitman, and Buttolph-Williams Houses).

Lorin and Florence Hollister Curtis House (1840)

The front porch was added later to this c. 1840 Greek Revival house, located on High Street in South Glastonbury. The house was once occupied by Lorin Curtis, a Civil War veteran, and his wife, Florence Hollister Curtis, who wrote a history of Glastonbury in 1928. Now a two-family home, the house also features a rear addition, built as a studio by the artist Dick Wilton, who lived in the house in the 1980’s.

"The Parsonage" (1828)

Built around 1828, on Main Street in Glastonbury, by Henry Benton for his bride, who then refused to move to the rural town. The expensive home was soon lost to creditors. It became the parsonage of the First Church, Congregational of Glastonbury in 1847, and was converted into apartments in the 1950s. In 2001, a new owner began restoring the house.

Gail Borden Munsill House (1895)

After completing her home on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford in 1893, Mary Borden Munsill had one built next door for her son, Gail Borden Munsill. The home, completed in 1895, is constructed using yellow brick, which gives it a distinctive appearance. The son’s house, unlike the mother’s, is less ornate and, with its greater smoothness and symmetricality, looks ahead to the Colonial Revival style.

Kingsbury-Gatling House (1860)

Built in 1860, on Charter Oak Place in Hartford, for the Kingsbury family. The Kingsbury House was later owned by Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor of the Gatling Gun, the first successful machine gun. A rear addition in the Moorish Revival style was later added to the original Italianate House. This rear section had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1980.