Seaside Institute (1887)

The Seaside Institute is a Richardsonian Romanesque building, erected in 1887 at the corner of Lafayette and Atlantic Avenues in Bridgeport. Designed by Warren R. Briggs, it was built by the brothers, Drs. I. D. Warner and Lucien C. Warner, across Atlantic Street from their corset factory. With seven eighths of their 1,200 employees being women, the Seaside Institute was built to provide the female workers with various amenities. As described in Volume II of Rev. Samuel Orcutt’s A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport (1886),

It comprises a Restaurant, Free Reading Room, Library, Bath Rooms, a large Public Hall, and Rooms for Evening Classes. It is a very elegant and substantial building of granite, brownstone and pressed brick, costing $60,000

The Seaside Institute‘s dedication ceremony was attended by Frances Folsom Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland. Much lauded at the time for its role in remedying what was called “the problem of the working-girl,” the Institute continued to serve its original purpose until changing times led to its dissolution in 1929. The building was next owned by the Bridgeport Herald and, since 2007, has been home to Bridgeport International Academy, a private high school. (more…)

Bridgeport’s Old City Hall (1854)

This is Bridgeport Week!

The old City Hall of Bridgeport was constructed of Portland brownstone in 1853-54 between State and Bank Streets at a cost of $75,000. The Greek Revival building, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis to resemble a Greek temple, served as both City Hall and as the Fairfield County Courthouse. The original county seat and courthouse had been located in Fairfield, but when a larger building was required, it was decided to move the county seat to Bridgeport, which was experiencing considerable growth at the time. An alternative location for the courthouse was Norwalk, but Bridgeport offered to pay for the courthouse and a jail. The completed building had a large ground floor used as City Hall and two upper floors for court and county business. There was also an auditorium, called Washington Hall, used for public meetings. It was here, on March 10, 1860, that Abraham Lincoln gave a speech to a standing-room-only crowd.

The building served as courthouse until a new and larger one was constructed in 1887-1888 near the corner of Golden Hill and Main Streets. The old building, which continued to be used as City Hall until the 1960s and still contains city offices, was significantly remodeled in 1905. Bridgeport architect Joseph Northrop altered the building, toning down some of Davis’ romantic touches to make the structure conform more to the Neo-Classical style. The building’s dome had already been removed in the later nineteenth century and Northrop additionally altered the entablature and cornice. The first floor and entrance were also lowered to street level. In 1966, the former City Hall was renamed McLevy Hall after Bridgeport mayor, Jasper McLevy. The city is now consolidating its offices and plans to sell McLevy Hall to a developer.

Lavinia L. Parmly House (1890)

The Parmly House, in the Marina Park district of Bridgeport, was originally built in 1890 by Lavinia L. Parmly, a wealthy New York widow. She used it as a summer home and, upon her death in 1894, bequeathed it to her grandson, Parmly S. Clapp, as a wedding present. He later became a New York City stockbroker. The house was later purchased by Allen W. Paige, whose widow, Elizabeth, donated it to the University of Bridgeport in 1950. Named Cortright Hall, in honor of E. Everett Cortright, first president of the Junior College of Connecticut (now the University of Bridgeport). Used at first as administrative offices, Cortright Hall now houses the Department of Public Relations.

Barnum Museum (1893)

This is Historic Buildings of Connecticut’s 900th post, excepting the two April Fools posts, which some people have taken too seriously! What is that famous quote often attributed to P.T. Barnum? Well, with that in mind, let’s keep to the Barnum theme! The Barnum Museum is a place worth celebrating in an anniversary post, as it is a surviving legacy from one of Connecticut’s most important historical figures. P.T. Barnum had his famous American Museum in Manhattan, but this later burned. Barnum built four successive mansions in Bridgeport, where he served as mayor in 1875, but only a few traces of these survive today. The museum in Bridgeport which today bears his name was built in 1893 as the Barnum Institute of Science and History and originally housed a resource library and lecture hall. The building, which reflects the influence of Byzantine, Moorish and Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, was constructed of stone and terra cotta after Barnum‘s death using funds he had bequeathed for the purpose. The original societies which occupied the building ceased operation during the Great Depression and the city of Bridgeport assumed ownership in 1933. In 1943 the museum was closed for remodeling, reopening in 1946 as a city hall annex. In 1965, the city offices were removed and the building was again remodeled to reopen as the P. T. Barnum Museum in 1968, with exhibits about Barnum and the history of Bridgeport. The museum, which since 1986 has been operated by the Barnum Museum Foundation, was renovated in 1986-1989 and is today the only museum dedicated to the life of P. T. Barnum

Levi W. Eaton House (1893)

eaton-house.jpg

In 1893, Levi W. Eaton, president of the Bryant Electric Company, built a house on the southeast corner of Marina Park and Linden Avenue in Bridgeport. Eaton had been invited to build a home there by P.T. Barnum, whose fourth and final mansion was also located on the elliptical Marina Park circle. Eaton’s financial situation led him to sell the house right after completion to William A. Grippin, president of the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company, Vulcan Ironworks and the North and Judd Manufacturing Company of New Britain. Three years after Grippin‘s first wife died, he married again in 1910, but died at the Grand Canyon in Arizona in 1911, while he was on his wedding trip. The Eaton-Grippin House was acquired by the University of Bridgeport in 1959 and for thirty years it served as a dormitory for law school students. The house, known as Darien Hall, has been unoccupied since the early 1990s and is in currently in disrepair.

Fayerweather Island Lighthouse (1823)

fayerweather-island-light.jpg

In the eighteenth century, what is today the Black Rock neighborhood of Bridgeport developed as an active port. In 1808, Black Rock Harbor’s first lighthouse, made of wood, was built on the southern end of Fayerweather Island. This was destroyed in an 1821 hurricane and replaced, in 1823, by a stone tower, designed to withstand future rough weather. Fayerweather Island Light, also known as Black Rock Harbor Light, had a number of long-tenured lighthouse keepers. Stephen Moore began as keeper in 1817, but he was later injured and unable to tend the light. His daughter, Catherine Moore, who had begun assisting him as a girl, then took on the full duties of keeper, although her father retained the official position until he died, at age 100, in 1871. Kate Moore then officially became keeper, retiring in 1878. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1933 and became part of Bridgeport’s Seaside Park. The tower eventually fell prey to vandals and the adjacent keeper’s house, built in 1879 after Kate Moore retired, burned down in 1977. There was a preservation effort in 1983, but eventually the island was again neglected and the lighthouse vandalized. A new preservation group eventually formed and, in 1998, the structure was restored and now has with graffiti-resistant paint and vandal-proof steel panes for the windows. Black Rock Harbor Light was also relit, using solar panels. The island is today attached to land by a stone breakwater.