Tracy S. Lewis House (1916)

Lewis House

Update: As noted in a comment below, this house was demolished in 2022.

The house at 35 Wolfe Avenue in Beacon Falls was built in 1916 for Tracy S. Lewis, president of the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company. The company had been founded in 1898 by Tracy S. Lewis and his father, George Albert Lewis. The Lewis House and its grounds are part of a neighborhood created on the highland above the rubber factory for the company’s workers. Called the Hill, the neighborhood was designed by the renowned landscape architects, Olmsted Brothers. Parts of the house may date to c. 1855, when the property was owned by the American Hard Rubber Company. The house later lost its original wood shingle siding. The town acquired the property in 2008 for future municipal use and in 2010, after a report was released on the feasibility of restoring the house, there were debates over whether the house should be razed or renovated. The house’s future remains undetermined.

Charles Underwood House (1859)

704 Tolland Stage Road

The Swiss Chalet-style house at 704 Tolland Stage Road in Tolland is one of the most notable buildings in the area of Tolland Green. It was built in 1859 for Charles Underwood, who in 1851 had inherited the leather belting factory across the street established by his father, Moses Underwood. Charles and his brother Henry would expand the business as the Underwood Belting Company. Charles Underwood also engaged extensively in agricultural pursuits and served in the Connecticut state senate in 1868 and 1869.

James S. North House (1913)

9 Sunnyledge

Located next door to the E. Allen Moore House on Sunnyledge Street in New Britain is the house built for Moore’s friend, James S. North, at 9 Sunnyledge. North was president of the C. J. White Manufacturing Company, makers of hose-supports and garters. He was later the superintendent of the New Britain General Hospital. Before moving to Sunnyledge, North had previously lived at 21 Franklin Square. His stuccoed house on Sunnyledge, built in 1913, was designed by architect William F. Brooks.

Sunnyledge (1899)

Sunnyledge

In 1899 work began on a large Colonial Revival mansion, completed in 1900 in what had been a field just southwest of Walnut Hill Park in New Britain. It was erected by E. Allen Moore, son of the artist Nelson Augustus Moore (1824-1902). In 1899 Ethelbert Allen Moore was a manufacturing superintendent at the Stanley Works and would become the company‘s president in 1918. He retired in 1929 and in 1950 published his book Tenth Generation, a history of the Moore family in America. In 1891 Morse had married Martha Elizabeth, daughter of William H. Hart, then president of Stanley Works. She named the new property “Sunnyledge,” after a traprock ledge just west of the house. The new road they opened was called Sunnyledge Street. The house was designed by William F. Brooks of Davis & Brooks, with two later additions by architect Oliver M. Wiard.