Obadiah Spencer House (1826)

Obadiah Spencer, an Essex merchant, built a house on Pratt Street in 1826. Later in financial trouble, he sold the house in 1831 to ship carpenter Richard Hill. Owned in the 1840s by a group of Baptists who were considering making it a church rectory, the house was later a rental property. Much expanded over the years, it has more recently been made into condominiums. Note: This post was written on 09/02/2011 and backdated so that there would be a regular post for 04/01/2009 as well as an April Fool’s Post.

Hayden Chandlery (1813)

hayden-chandlery.jpg

Captain Richard Hayden‘s Chandlery in Essex was built in 1813 and originally stood at the corner of Main Street and Novelty Lane. Constructed in the Federal style, it served as a chandlery (a store selling supplies and equipment for seamen and ships). Built next to Hayden‘s shipyard, the building continued to be used as ship’s store, although by the early twentieth century the upper floor housed a tenement. The first floor windows and the projecting windows on the second floor are later additions. The building was moved to its present location in 1949 by the then owners of the Griswold Inn. The chandlery and nearby steamboat dock warehouse were purchased by the Connecticut River Foundation in 1974, in order to preserve the historic waterfront. Renamed the Connecticut River Museum, the institution restored the chandlery in 1975 to display exhibits. Thomas A. Stevens, a former director of Mystic Seaport, died in 1982 and left his library to the museum. That same year, the warehouse had been converted into a museum building and the chandlery was again renovated, this time to hold the Thomas A. Stevens maritime research library.

Noah Pratt House (1805)

noah-pratt.jpg

In the eighteenth century, Hezekiah Pratt owned farm land in Essex, known as Cornfield Point, which stretched from Main Street south to the Connecticut River. When he died, four of his sons inherited land along the south side of Main Street where they built their homes. One of the sons was Noah Pratt, whose 1805 house was later sold to his brother, Asahel, in 1808 and then to Uriah Hayden in 1817. Uriah Hayden was the grandson of the Uriah Hayden, who ran the Hayden Tavern in Essex, and the great-grandson of Nehemiah Hayden, who had been a loyalist during the Revolutionary War. The house remained in the Hayden family until 1977 and is now used for offices.

Gurdon Smith House (1818)

gurdon-smith.jpg

A Federal-style house, built by Gurdon Smith on Pratt Street in Essex in 1818, is one of several he built on the street. Smith was one of the developers of Pratt (then called New) Street, which was opened after the land north of Main Street, long owned by the Lay family, became available. The street runs between the original locations of Essex’s two successive ropewalks. Smith was a part-owner of the second ropewalk, which was located just north of Pratt Street.

Timothy Starkey, Jr. House (1800)

47 Main Street Essex

Timothy Starkey, Jr.’s house in Essex was built in 1800, when he leased land from Samuel Lay to build his home on the corner of Main Street and Ferry Street (the latter street being laid out in the 1820s, after the house was constructed). Starkey later bought the land and property extending along Main Street to the wharf, developed Pratt Street and was involved in various business ventures. Timothy Starkey married his cousin, Mary Ann Hayden, a daughter of Uriah Hayden. Starkey owned the Hayden-Starkey Store with his brothers-in-law, Samuel Hayden and Ebenezer Hayden II. Timothy’s brother, Felix Starkey, lived next door to him and married Esther Hayden, who was also a daughter of Uriah Hayden. The house later passed to Timothy’s daughter, Phoebe, who had married William S. Hayden. The house remained in the family until 1974 and is is now used for businesses.

(more…)