21 Church Street, Waterbury (1886)

As related in Frederick John Kinsbury’s A Narrative and Documentary History of St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church (formerly St. James) of Waterbury, Connecticut (1907): “In 1884 John C. Booth and Mrs. Olive M. Elton presented to the parish the lot at the corner of Church and West Main streets, and a rectory was erected thereon, which was completed in the spring of 1886 at a cost of about $16,000.” The Queen Anne-style building, at 21 Church Street, features a Romanesque Revival archway on the front porch. In the 1970s, this former minister’s residence was converted into an office building.

Russell Library, Middletown (1834)

Middletown’s Russell Library, at the corner of Broad and Court Streets, was originally built in 1834 as Christ Episcopal Church, a Greek Revival building designed by Barzallai D. Sage. The church later constructed a new building in 1874 on Main Street and was renamed the Church of the Holy Trinity. In 1873, the original church building was sold to Frances Ann Russell, widow of Samuel Russell, who had it completely remodeled in the Gothic style and donated it as a public library. Originally opened in 1876, the Library has had a number of additions over the years: the Hubbard wing in 1930; a new Children’s Library in 1973 in what had been the First Federal Saving and Loan Association of Meriden; and a major expansion in 1983, which connected the various library buildings and created the inner courtyard.

The John E. Luddy House (1921)

At 261 Broad Street in Windsor is the house built by John E. Luddy in 1921. Luddy, manager of the Connecticut Leaf Tobacco Association, was the founder of the Windsor Company, a textile manufacturer which produced shade cloth. This gauze-like cloth was used to protect the growing shade tobacco from the sun. Luddy also set up a trust fund to support the Connecticut Valley Tobacco Historical Society. Luddy’s house and carriage house were sold to the Town of Windsor in 1964 and today the Luddy House is home to the Windsor Chamber of Commerce.

South Park Methodist Church (1875)

The former South Park Methodist Episcopal Church, facing South Green in Hartford, was built in 1875. In 1886, the Boardman Chapel was added to the rear of the church, but has since been removed. In 1982, South Park Methodist Church merged with the United Methodist Church on Farmington Avenue. The 1875 South Green church was purchased by South Park Inn, Inc., which renovated the building and opened in in 1984 as an emergency homeless shelter.

Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (1957)

Built in 1954-1957, the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company’s headquarters in Bloomfield (now known as the Wilde Building, for company president Frazer B. Wilde), was a pioneering example of an International Style suburban corporate structure. Designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, it was conceived as a modern campus with sophisticated amenities in a bucolic area. The skills of interior designer Florence Knoll and sculptor Isamu Noguchi were also called upon in the building’s creation. In 1982, CG and INA Corporation joined to form CIGNA, which proposed to demolish and replace the building with a new development in 1999. Preservationists acted to oppose these plans and the building was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2001. CIGNA eventually decided to remain in the building and rehabilitate it. (more…)