Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Towns

Rocky Hill United Methodist Church (1896)

Methodists in Rocky Hill built their first church in 1859. When that church burned to the ground on Valentine’s Day 1895, the ladies of the sewing society only had time to save an 1814 Bible and a pair of altar chairs from the building. A new church was opened less than a year after the fire. Now called the Rocky Hill United Methodist Church, it is located at 626 Old Main Street, on the corner of Church Street. This Gothic Revival church has triangular window shapes instead of the pointed arches that are more typical of the style.

Jeremiah Shepard House (1830)

Jeremiah Shepard House, Central Village, Plainfield

Jeremiah Shepard was a manager at the Central Manufacturing Company in Plainfield, which was acquired by partners Richard and Arnold Fenner and Holden Borden in 1827. Shepard’s house, built c. 1830 at 32-36 Main Street in Plainfield’s Central Village, has later additions, including a side bay window and long front porch.

Paul Robeson House (1903)

The Colonial Revival house at 1221 Enfield Street in Enfield was built in 1903. It is known for its association with Paul Robeson, whose family owned it from 1940 to 1953. At that time, Robeson was at the height of his popularity as a singer and actor, famed for his roles in The Emperor Jones (which was the first feature sound film starring an African American) Show Boat, and Othello. Robeson was also a political activist for civil rights and a communist who suffered ostracism and persecution for his beliefs.

Blue Hills Fire Station (1927)

The fire station of Hartford‘s Engine Company 16 is located at 636 Blue Hills Avenue. Built in 1927, the station was designed by Hartford architects Ebbets and Frid in the Tudor Revival style to blend in with a neighborhood that was, at that time, more residential in character.

Robinson-Andrews House (1840)

Happy Halloween!!!The Robinson-Andrews House, at 202 Main Street in Durham, stands on a lot that had originally been intended for public use and for support of the ministry. The First Ecclesiastical Society of Durham leased the land to Asahel Strong in 1826 for 999 years (essentially a way of selling it). In 1838, Strong conveyed the land to Henry Robinson, a farmer, who built his house around 1840. The property was sold to Dr. Chauncey Andrews in 1844 and it was later owned by the Tibbals family, who may have made the later Victorian-era additions to the Greek Revival house.

Herman Griswold House (1837)

The Greek Revival house at 119 Main Street in Ellington was built in 1837 for Herman Griswold. The house’s gable window has bull’s eye corner blocks.

Citizens & Manufacturers Bank (1922)

Henry Bacon, architect of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., designed the bank building at 18 Leavenworth Street in Waterbury. It was constructed in 1922 as the Citizens & Manufacturers Bank, which was formed from the merging of two banks: the Citizens’ Bank, which was established in 1853 and became a national bank in 1865, and the Manufacturers’ National Bank, established in 1880. The bank later merged again in 1959 to form the Colonial Bank and Trust Company. The structure is now part of the bank building at 81 West Main Street, which today is a branch of Sovereign Bank.