Construction of the house at 25 Vine Street in New Britain, which displays Victorian Gothic and Eastlake elements, has been dated to 1867, c. 1875, or, in A Walk Around Walnut Hill (1975), between 1885 and 1890. That same book indicates the house was built by Jacob J. and Charlotte Ritz (Jacob Ritz was a city councilman in 1882) and was purchased by George Tyler, an engineer, about 1900. The property includes an original carriage house.
Episcopal services in the village of Farmington were first held in an old schoolhouse in 1873, when St. James’ Mission was established under the leadership of Rev. Edward R. Brown, Rector of Christ Church in Unionville, and Charles L. Whitman, a Farmington innkeeper. By late 1874, the mission had moved to the second floor of a grocery store and post office on Main Street near Mill Lane. Whitman died in 1886 and left money for the erection of a church. The mission raised additional funds and acquired land for the church on Mountain Road in 1897. The Arts & Crafts-style structure was designed and built by Henry Hall Mason, whose father, Charles S. Mason, was a strong supporter of the mission. Mason used local field stone in the construction and also made the church’s wooden altar and reading desk using wood from his own property. The first service in the new building was held in January 1899 and the church was consecrated five months later. The mission was formally recognized as St. James Parish in 1902. An addition to the rear was built in 1910 to provide a larger chancel and organ loft. Two further additions were a new parish house in 1938 and a parish hall, designed by Edgar T. Glass, in 1957. That same year, a belfry was also constructed.
In 1885, alumnae of Miss Porter’s School in Farmington erected the building at 5 Mountain Road as a tribute to the school’s founder, Miss Sarah Porter. Called the Studio, the Richardsonian Romanesque and Shingle-style building originally contained rooms for drawing, painting and music (It has been used for other purposes over the years). The former students had raised $6,000 through subscription to fund the building, which was dedicated on May 29, 1885. Near the entrance is a dedication plaque with an inscription in Latin honoring Miss Sarah Porter.
The 8-story building at 1111-1127 Main Street in Bridgeport was erected in 1904 by the Security Building Company. The building features a central atrium from the second to the eighth floor, which provides natural light. The office building was remodeled in 1950, but fell out of use in the 1990s. In 2015, work began on a major project to redevelop the Security Building and two adjacent structures (the E. W. Harrall Building at 1103-1105 Main Street and the E. E. Wheeler Building at 1131-1137 Main Street) as apartments and retail apace. Known as Harral Security Wheeler, the development was completed in 2016 and features first-floor retail apace and 70 apartments.
A rare example in Connecticut of an eighteenth century stone house is located at 30 Lawton Road in Canton. The gambrel-roofed house, initially used as a tavern, was erected in 1786 by Dan Case (1761-1815). He was the son of Lt. Dudley Case, who the first proprietor of what would become known as the Hosford Tavern. Dan Case later moved to Ohio. The house has an arched third-floor hall. From 1797 to 1799, Masonic meetings were held there by Village Lodge No. 29.
The house at 35 Main Street in Essex was originally built in the late eighteenth century with a gambrel roof. It was enlarged before 1810 by builder Thomas Millard, likely for the newlyweds, Nathaniel Wilson and Temperance Lay.
On Sherman Street in Hartford are a pair of French Second Empire-style houses with mansard roofs and corner towers. They were erected by John R. Hills, a stonemason and builder (who also worked with contractor John B. Garvie to build the Mark Twain House), and William Blevins, a stone dealer. One of the houses, built in 1877, is at 21 Sherman Street. The other, pictured above, is at 25 Sherman Street. It was built in 1878 and its first resident was Nathan A. Bosworth, a plumber and steamfitter who was a partner in the company Embler and Bosworth and had served in the Civil War.
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