24 Lewis Street, Hartford (1840)

The former house, now a business, at 24 Lewis Street in Hartford was built around 1840. It has been attributed to the builder Austin Daniels, who also probably constructed the two adjacent buildings. Stylistically, the house represents the transition from the Federal to the Greek Revival styles and is typical of houses built in Hartford in the decades before the Civil War. The Italianate-style front portico was added later in the nineteenth century and the enclosed porch is a later Colonial Revival addition.

Charter Oak Bank (1861)

 

 

In the nineteenth century, many brownstone-faced commercial buildings were constructed in downtown Hartford. Most of these have since been demolished, but the Italianate building at the northeast corner of Asylum and Trumbull Streets survives. The ground floor has been altered, but the floors above have original brownstone moldings over the regularly-spaced windows, a different design for each floor. The building was constructed in 1861 for the Chater Oak Bank, which occupied it until 1915, being succeeded by City Bank, which closed in 1932.

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Ensworth Carriage House (1888)

Lester L. Ensworth owned a business that produced iron and steel hardware and carriage parts. He was a partner with George H. Clark in Clark and Company, located at the corner of Front and Ferry Streets in Hartford. Ensworth became sole owner in 1892 and the company was renamed L. L. Ensworth & Son in 1901. In 1888, Ensworth moved his family into a large house on the corner of Farmington and Girard Avenues, in Hartford’s West End. The house is no longer standing, but the carriage house survives. Built in grand Queen Anne style to match the no longer extant house, the Ensworth Carriage House has a variety of Victorian features, unified by its exterior covering of shingle siding. Today, the building is home to a ballet company.

Goodwin Square (1989) and City Place (1980)

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Happy New Year from Historic Buildings of Connecticut! Hartford’s three tallest buildings are City Place, at 163 meters (535 ft), the Travelers Tower, at 161 meters (527 ft), and Goodwin Square, at 159 meters (522 ft). In the image above are Goodwin Square (left) and City Place (right), both designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore Owings And Merrill. City Place I was built in 1980 and has thirty-eight floors above ground (the adjacent City Place II was built in 1989 and has 18 floors). Most of the building is office space, with retail and restaurant space on the lower floors. Goodwin Square was built in 1989 and has thirty floors. This modern skyscraper connects to and shares a lobby with the Goodwin Hotel, originally built as an apartment building in 1881. The facade of the Goodwin Hotel remains, but the interior was completely replaced in the 1980s. The skyscraper was eventually deemed to have been a bad investment and the hotel closed in 2008. Also visible in the lower left of the above photograph are the tops of the two towers of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch.

Albert Sisson House (1867)

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Albert L. Sisson was born in Bloomfield and became successful in Hartford operating a meat market in the Sisson Block, a building which once stood at Main and Sheldon Streets, and as a tobacco trader. In 1867, he built a brick Italianate house on his estate on Hubbard Street, which was renamed Sisson Avenue in his honor in the 1870s. He was also involved at the time in the founding of the Asylum Avenue Baptist Church. Sisson died in 1886 and his wife, Mary Gorton Sisson, died in 1898. The house was used for a time as a hospital for scarlet fever patients and in 1902 was acquired by the cathedral corporation of the Hartford diocese. Bishop Michael Tierney of Hartford gave the property to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd for use as a home for wayward girls. The house was expanded in 1905 and additional buildings, including Marian Hall and Euphrasia Hall, were constructed on the estate in 1920s. The “House of the Good Shepard” complex was sold by the Sisters in 1979 and today serves as subsidized senior housing.