This is my 100th post for Bridgeport! The William Leigh House at 450 Beachwood Avenue in Bridgeport (not to be confused with Waldemere Hall, the 1913 home of William and Frances Leigh at 409 Waldemere Avenue) was built in 1892. William Leigh was a piano dealer. He got a patent for a design he made to decorate a piano-front.
The Henry Bunce at 34 Hackley Street in Black Rock, Bridgeport, was built in 1893 for the Bartram family’s head gardener. Bunce also worked for Rev. Henry Collings Woodruff, minister of the Black Rock Congregational Church. The house was constructed in the same year as its more elaborate neighbor on an adjoining lot, the Arthur Smith House at 118 Ellsworth Street.
The house at 36 Brooklawn Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1896. It was first the residence of Mrs. Andrew E. Nash, widow of a real estate developer.
Part of the Arnold Bernhard Arts and Humanities Center at the University of Bridgeport is an interesting ovoid structure (pictured above). The building was constructed in 1969-1972 to showcase performing arts events and visual art exhibitions. To the right (only part of which is visible in the image above) is the building’s nine-floor structure, which houses the university’s arts and humanities departments. The building was recently renovated.
At 237 Brewster Street in the Bridgeport village of Black Rock is a transitional Federal/Greek Revival house built in 1839. It is one of several on the street built at the time by housewright David Smith. It was the home of Captain Thomas Ransom, a ship captain and one of the trustees of the Bridgeport Savings Bank. He built a carriage shop on Calderwood Court in 1830 and founded the select school (private school) that met on the carriage shop’s upper floor. The school later had its own building.
At 2429 North Avenue in Bridgeport is an eclectic Colonial Revival house built in 1903 for William L. Cook.
The colonial revival house at 552 Maplewood Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1915 for Ernest W. Hanke. He was the president of the Hanke Hat Company.