Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Durham

Asahel Strong House (1830)

Asahel Strong (1781-1863) was a farmer and a prominent citizen of Durham who served as Justice of the Peace and five terms as a representative in the Connecticut General Assembly. Strong had a Federal-style house on Fowler Avenue, but also had a vernacular house, built c. 1830 on Main Street on parsonage land he leased from the First Ecclesiastical Society of Durham for 999 years (essentially a way for the Society to sell it). Another house built on this parsonage property is the Robinson-Andrews House, located just south of the Strong House. The 1830 house remained in the Strong family until the 1850s.

Bela Davis House (1865)

The Bela Davis House at 31 Main Street (formerly 12 Main Street) in Durham has a Greek Revival central doorway and Greek Revival cornice returns on the gable ends. The house was built in 1865 by farmer Bela Davis (1800-1887) who had purchased seven acres from Zebulon Hale. He owned the house for ten years.

Hall-Camp House (1773)

The Hall-Camp House, on Main Street in Durham, is a Colonial center-chimney saltbox house, built just before the start of the Revolutionary War. It was built on land that Daniel Hall received from the estate his father, Timothy Hall, in 1773. Hall was a leading citizen of Durham who was a delegate to the Convention to adopt the Federal Constitution. He sold the property to Heth Camp in 1783 and it remained in the Camp family until 1900.

Robinson-Andrews House (1840)

Happy Halloween!!!The Robinson-Andrews House, at 202 Main Street in Durham, stands on a lot that had originally been intended for public use and for support of the ministry. The First Ecclesiastical Society of Durham leased the land to Asahel Strong in 1826 for 999 years (essentially a way of selling it). In 1838, Strong conveyed the land to Henry Robinson, a farmer, who built his house around 1840. The property was sold to Dr. Chauncey Andrews in 1844 and it was later owned by the Tibbals family, who may have made the later Victorian-era additions to the Greek Revival house.

Lemuel Camp Tavern (1806)

Lemuel Camp built his house on Main Street in Durham in 1806 and it was soon opened as a tavern. Lemuel Camp died in 1843 and his widow, Martha Pickett Camp, in 1860. The house was then divided between their surviving children, Edward Pickett Camp of New Haven and his unmarried sister, Sophronia Camp, but neither lived in the house. Sallie B. Strong bought the property near the turn of the century and rented rooms to tenants. Edward P. Camp’s daughter, Hattie Camp, married the watercolor painter Wedworth Wadsworth (1846-1927) and they rented rented the house as a summer residence. The house has passed through other owners over the years and was restored in 1978.

Arnold Ward House (1828)

In 1827, Arnold Ward purchased land on Main Street in Durham from David Smith and proceeded to build a house and blacksmith shop on the property. The following year he sold the house and land, except for the blacksmith shop, to Silvester Ward. The house’s front porch was added later.

United Churches of Durham (1847)

Happy Easter!!! The original meeting house of Durham’s Congregational church stood on the northeast corner of the town Green from 1736 to 1835. When it was decided to replace the old building, there was a struggle in town between those to the south, who wanted the new church to be built near the Green, and those to the north, who wanted it to be built north of Allyn Brook. It was eventually built near the Green, but those living south of Allyn Brook made a larger contribution to its construction. On Thanksgiving Day, 1844, the new building burned down (a suspected case of arson). Those on the north side now succeeded in having the new church built on their side of the brook while south siders paid nothing and were even compensated for their expense for the previous building. The new North Congregational Church was dedicated in June, 1847, but the dispute was not over: that same year 67 members left the church and formed a separate South Congregational Church. The two congregations united again in 1886 and the South Church became Durham’s Town Hall. In 1941 the Congregational and Methodist Churches joined to form the United Churches of Durham.