Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Hartford

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch (1886)

When the city of Hartford chose to have an arch over a bridge (which once crossed the Park River, now underground) as its Civil War monument, it was seeking a design quite different from the usual types of Civil War monuments. It would be the first permanent triumphal arch in America. It is also one of the earliest monuments to use the term “Civil War.” A competition was announced, which irritated the architect George Keller–as a famous designer of Civil War monuments, he was unhappy not to be commissioned or even consulted. As all of the submitted designs went over budget, Keller was eventually able to reconcile with the city and plan the monument. The structure he created still remains a unique achievement for combining Classical and Gothic elements in a unified design. It is Keller’s most famous project (along with the James A. Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio). The monument, located on the edge of Hartford’s Bushnell Park, was built of Portland brownstone and was dedicated on September 17, 1886, the anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. The ashes of Keller and his wife were later interred in the east tower. The Arch was restored in 1986-1988, but has sometimes suffered damage due to cars crashing into it.

White Hall, Institute of Living (1877)

White Hall, part of the campus of the Retreat for the Insane (now the Institute of Living), was built in 1877 and was designed by George Keller, who also drew up plans for a number of other buildings at the Retreat, including Elizabeth Chapel. White Hall was originally constructed as a service building, used as a laundry, carpentry shop, vegetable cellar and coal storage vault. Later housing a swimming pool and squash courts, the building was vacant for a time until its recent restoration. It is now the home of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center.

Charter Oak Cultural Center (1876)

Connecticut’s first synagogue was built for Congregation Beth Israel, on Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford in 1876. The congregation’s earlier home, a former Baptist church on Main Street, was being razed for the building of the Cheney Block. Departing from his usual Gothic style, the architect of Temple Beth Israel, George Keller, utilized the Romanesque Revival style in his design. In 1898, with the congregation growing, the building was enlarged and renovated. The the width of the nave was altered to match the towers and the interior was elaborately stenciled. In 1936, the congregation moved to a new building in West Hartford. Today, the original Temple Beth Israel has been restored and serves as the non-sectarian Charter Oak Cultural Center.

Eizabeth Chapel, Institute of Living (1875)

Located on the grounds of the Institute of Living in Hartford (which had begun as the Connecticut Retreat for the Insane, founded by Dr. Eli Todd), Elizabeth Chapel was donated by Dr. Gurdon Wadsworth Russell in memory of his first wife. Constructed in 1875 of Westerly Granite, the chapel was designed by George Keller, utilizing a variation on the same basic plan he had made earlier for his Grace Episcopal Church in Windsor.

Park Terrace Houses (1895)

This week, we will be looking at the architecture of George Keller. Born in Ireland, Keller came to the United States when he was ten. Taking up the study of architecture, he came to Hartford to design monuments for J.G. Batterson, producing many memorials for Cedar Hill Cemetery. He would later design the cemetery’s Northam Memorial Chapel in 1882. Keller utilized a Gothic style and resisted the Classical and Colonial Revivals.

Primarily associated with churches and public buildings, Keller also designed houses, so we begin this week with the row houses he designed along Park Terrace in Hartford (above). These houses present a simplified form of Keller’s “Modern Gothic” style. They also display similarities with Keller’s design for the (no longer extant) Hartford High School building of 1883. He also designed a similar group of houses along Columbia Street in 1888-1889. The Park Terrace houses had a special significance for Keller, because the last house on the row (24 Park Terrace, below) became his own home as the fee for planning the project.

The James Colt House (1856)

Built on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford for the brother of Sam Colt, the Italianate-style James Colt House was built in 1856. Like the other Italianate houses along the same block, including Sam Colt’s own Armsmear, with which it shares many design features, the James Colt House has been attributed to the architect Octavius J. Jordan. In 1976, the house was the first in Hartford to be restored with a grant from the National Park Service and Federal tax incentives.

The Edmund Hurlburt House (1860)

Built around 1860, the Edmund Hurlburt House is a great example of Italianate architecture, featuring an elaborate portico, with paired arched windows above, and a cupola. Hurlbut and his partner, James Ashmead, were in the goldbeating business. The house is located on Congress Street, which Hurlburt and Ashmead helped develop and which is now a historic district with many Greek Revival and Italianate houses. Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney, the founders of Pratt and Whitney, also lived on Congress Street.