Benjamin Hanks, a drummer in the Revolutionary War, was a clockmaker and silversmith, known for his church bells, who settled in Litchfield from 1779 to 1790. He had his home and shop in a building at 39 South Street, built in 1780. Hanks later returned to practice his trade in his hometown of Mansfield and also set up a bell-casting foundry with his son in Troy, New York. His former double house in Litchfield served for a time as the Park Hotel.
The William F. Baldwin House, at 150 South Street in Litchfield, was built in 1850. In 1886, the house was acquired by Philadelphian F. Ratchford Starr, who ran Echo Farm, a commercial dairy he had begun in Litchfield. Around 1910, when the Colonial Revival influence had come to dominate in Litchfield, the house was altered, probably quite significantly, in that style, most likely by Starr’s daughter, who had inherited the property in 1889.
Having already designed a house in Litchfield for Rufus Stillman in 1950, Marcel Breuer designed a second in 1965, this time working in collaboration with Herbert Beckhard. Breuer also designed factory buildings for Stillman’s company. Unlike that of its predecessor, the entry facade of Stillman House II presents the main view of the house, allowing me to take a more dramatic picture.
Next to Stillman House I, at the end of Beecher Lane in Litchfield, is another mid-century modern home called the Huvelle House. It was built in 1953 and designed by John Johansen on land land that had been split off from the neighboring Stillman property. Dr. C.H. Huvelle and his wife were the architect’s clients and a condition of Stillman’s land offer to them was that they build modern. Mrs. Huvelle continued to reside in the house until her death earlier this year.
In 1949, Rufus and Leslie Stillman became acquainted with the work of modern architect Marcel Breuer when they saw his “demonstration house” on display in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The couple hired him to design a modern house for their property at the end of Beecher Lane in Litchfield. The resulting structure, built in 1950 and today known as Stillman House I, brought mid-century modern style to a town town primarily associated with the Colonial Revival. The swimming pool Breuer designed for the house features a mural painted by the architect’s friend, the artist Alexander Calder. The Stillmans later lived in two other houses designed by Breuer, but eventually bought back and again lived in the original Stillman House. The above picture shows the house from the Beecher Lane side, which is not its most dramatic angle. For a more through look at the house, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art have a series of exterior and interior photographs of the house, taken when it was newly built.
On South Street in Litchfield, between St. Michael’s Church and the Benjamin Hanks House, is a building constructed in 1819-1820 by Phineas Miner as a law office. Later enlarged for use as a store by Silas N. Bronson, and for a time housing the collections of the Litchfield Historical Society, it has more recently been home to the Sanctum Club, a men’s club.
At 21 South Street in Litchfield is a brick building built in 1846 as offices for Origen S. Seymour (1804-1881), a lawyer who served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1851-1855) and as a judge of the superior court of Connecticut (1855-1863). More about the life of Origen S. Seymour can be read in the book, Memorial of Origen Storrs Seymour, of Litchfield, Connecticut, published in 1882. The Greek Revival building continues to be used as offices.
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