Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Building Type

Dr. Benjamin Weed House (1820)

The precise construction date for the house at 9 West Simsbury Road in Canton is uncertain, but town Assessor’s records give it a date of 1820. The house once retained its original stone sink, with a spout to drain the water outside. There was also once a small building on the northwest side of the house that was used as an office by the property’s owner, Dr. Benjamin Weed, Jr. (1789-1846). A surgeon in the War of 1812, Dr. Weed practiced medicine and was also the first postmaster to be appointed (in 1826) for what was then called New Canton. He also served as Justice of the Peace. He moved to Bloomington, now Muscatine, Iowa in 1839 with other members of his family.

E. W. Day House (1825)

The house at 87 Chaplin Street in Chaplin has been variously dated to 1825, 1832, 1855 and 1865. It was once the home of E. W. Day. Since the house at 93 Chaplin Street, on the other side of Tower Hill Road, was home to Deacon Darius Knight, the intersection was known as Knight and Day corner.

Parmenas Avery House (1880)

Built in 1880, the house at 28 Pearl Street in Mystic was originally the home of Parmenas Avery (1842-1886), a veteran of the Civil War who was a plumber/tinsmith and served as Mystic River postmaster and in the state General Assembly in 1882. In the collections of the Mystic River Historical Society is an invitation to a reception held at the new house the evening of Thursday, December 22, 1880.

23 Main Street, Manchester (1850)

The former house at 23 Main Street in Manchester was built sometime in the 1850s. It was recently used as a bank (and still recognizable as a former house), but since the above photograph was taken (2015), it has been completely remodeled as a Dominos Pizza.

87 Main Street, Manchester (1891)

Built c. 1891, the house at 87 Main Street in Manchester is a great example of the Queen Anne style.

First Congregational Church of Bethel (1866)

The First Congregational Church of Bethel was first organized in 1759. Captain Ebenezer Hickok gave the land for the first meeting house (built in 1760) and burial ground. The original building, located at the intersection of Main, Maple, and Chestnut Streets, burned down in 1842, and a new building (the Second Meeting House) was constructed. In 1865, during a severe thunderstorm and gale force wind, the steeple fell and broke through the building’s roof. The church chose to sell the building (it’s now the home of the Bethel Historical Society) to the town and erect a new meeting house, which still stands today, on the site of the original meeting house, at 46 Main Street.

John Prentice House (1853)

Two houses on Park Place in Mystic (1 Park Place and 5 Park Place) have historic markers indicating that they were the home of John Prentice, a carpenter. I don’t know if it was the same man or, perhaps, a father and son. According to The History and Genealogy of the Prentice, Or Prentiss Family, in New England, Etc., from 1631 to 1883 (1883), by C. J. F. Binney, there was a John Prentice, born “January 16, 1823; house-carpenter, and for last fifteen years cotton-gin builder.” The house pictured above, at 5 Park Place, was erected in 1853. According to the sign on the door, a later owner was Capt. Henry Ashby.