Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Houses

Daniel Hosmer House (1774)

The Daniel Hosmer House is a 1774 center-chimney colonial house on North Main Street in West Hartford. It was later owned by the Hatheway family.

Deacon John Grave House (1685)

Built in 1685 by John Grave, Sr. for his son, John Grave, Jr. on the Boston Post Road in Madison, down the road from the Allis-Bushnell House, which was built 100 years later. The Deacon John Grave House originally consisted of just two rooms, until around 1710, when it was expanded into a center-chimney house to accommodate Grave’s growing family. Sometime during the Revolutionary War, the house was expanded again with the addition of a shed in the rear, making it into a saltbox. Seven generations of the same family lived in the house in the following centuries. In 1983, when it was in danger of destruction, the Deacon John Grave Foundation was created to save and restore the home, and it is currently maintained by the Foundation as a house museum.

John Loveland House (1740)

Built in 1740 and later moved to its current location, on Main Street in Wethersfield, from a location nearer to the Meeting House, the John Loveland House may have originally been a Sabbath House. These were used by families who traveled a distance to attend church but could not go home easily for a break between services.

Allis-Bushnell House (1785)

Built around 1785 on the Boston Post Road in Madison, the Allis-Bushnell House was at one time the home of Cornelius Scranton Bushnell, a railroad executive and shipbuilder, who played an important role in the building of the Civil War ironclad, the U.S.S. Monitor. Later he was a founder of the Union Pacific Railway. In the early twentieth century, the house was the home and office of Dr. Milo Rindye. It is currently the home of the Madison Historical Society.

Buckley-Coffing House (1847)

Built sometime between 1847 and 1855 on South Main Street in West Hartford. Like the similarly Greek Revival-style Stephen Willard House in Wethersfield, it features a gable-end facing the street and a side entrance. The round-headed window in the gable is an Italianate, rather than a Greek Revival feature. Substantial additions on the rear of the house project on either side, the one on the north elevation creating a tri-gable L-shape. The house was probably built by George Buckley, who sold his farm to Charles Coffing in 1863.

Stephen Willard House (1837)

Built in 1837, the Stephen Willard House, on Broad Street Green in Wethersfield, followed the Greek Revival style of the time by having its gable-end face the street. This was to emulate the facade of a classical Greek temple. Unlike Greek Revival houses in which the front door was also on the facade, such as the Chester Bulkeley House (also in Wethersfield), the Willard House features a side entrance.

Stephen F. Willard was a later owner of the house. He began as a traveling salesman for the seed company Comstock, Ferre & Co., eventually becoming its president. He was also a founder of the American Seed Trade Association and the Wethersfield Village Improvement Association.

Ezekiel Williams House (1759)

Built around 1759 for the merchant, Ezekiel Williams, on Broad Street in Wethersfield. Williams was the sheriff of Hartford County from 1767 to 1789 and, during the Revolutionary War, he served as a member of the Committee of the Pay Table and Deputy Commissary General of Prisoners in Connecticut. Ezekiel Williams‘ son, Ezekiel, married a daughter of Oliver Ellsworth.

(more…)