The house at 101 Main Street in Ellington displays features of the Gothic Revival: board-and-batten siding, decorative bargeboards and drip mold window crowns. The house was probably built as a simple version of the Greek Revival style (c. 1832) and later altered (c. 1860) in the Gothic Revival style.
At the head of the Town Green in Ellington is the Hall Memorial Library, which first opened in 1903. The building was designed by architect Wilson Potter of New York, who specialized in schools and libraries and also designed the Bristol Public Library. The library was the gift of Francis Hall, who had left Ellington for Elmira, NY, in honor of his father, Judge John Hall, and his brother, Edward Hall, who had both headed renowned schools in Ellington. A bookseller, Francis Hall went to Japan in 1859 to collect material for a book and to serve as correspondent for Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune. He kept a detailed diary of his experiences in Japan from 1859 to 1866. In Yokohama, he helped found Walsh, Hall and Co., which became the leading American trading house in Japan. Two acres of land in Ellington were purchased from Chauncey C. Chapman for the library, with the understanding that the remaining part of the property would be maintained as a green. A 19,000 square foot addition was made to the library in 1992. Click for some postcard images of the library: 001, 002, 003.
The house at 89 Maple Street in Ellington was built in 1837. It is referred to as the John H. Brockway House in the Nomination for the Ellington Center Historic District. John Hall Brockway (1801-1870) was a lawyer and Whig politician. He served as member of the State House of Representatives from 1832 to 1848 and as a state senator in 1834. He served in the United States Congress from 1839 to 1843 and was later prosecuting attorney for Tolland County from 1849 to 1867. In 1896, Miss Sarah K. Gilbert left the house in her will to become a parsonage (the Gilbert Memorial Parsonage) of the Ellington Congregational Church. It was the parsonage until 1973 and is now a private residence.
At 83 Maple Street in Ellington is a Greek Revival house built in 1842. Its original resident was Flavel Whiton, who served as a state senator in 1849.
The Colonial Revival house at 139 Maple Street in Ellington was built in 1916 for Miles H. Aborn. The Church of St. Luke, dedicated next door in 1962, purchased the house from the estate of George Wendhiser for use as a rectory.
When Ellington’s Congregational Church burned down in 1914, the town simultaneously lost the selectman’s office, which had been located in the church’s basement since 1867. The town then decided to built a Town Hall, which is located at 55 Main Street. Completed in 1915, it was designed by Ellington-born architect J. Henry McCray. The first floor was used as a school from 1921 to 1949 to help alleviate overcrowding at Center School, located next door. The Town Hall was renovated in 1971.
The house at 110 Main Street in Ellington was built in 1841. It is a good example of a Greek Revival-style house with a side entrance. The house’s gable end faces the street to resemble the front of a classical Greek temple. The house is named for Henry McCray, who may have been a relative of the Ellington-born architect J. Henry McCray. (more…)
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