Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Portland

Franklin Goodspeed House (1837)

Franklin Goodspeed was a druggist in Portland. He and his wife, Julia Patten Goodspeed, lived in an 1837 Greek Revival house on Main Street. (more…)

Erastus Kelsey House (1825)

The Erastus Kelsey House, on Main Street in Portland, was built in 1925. Born in Killingworth in 1792, Kelsey married Betsey Deane around 1814. She was the daughter of Phineas Dean, a tavern keeper who also lived on Main Street. Another daughter of Phineas Deane, Harriet, married William McKinstry, a wealthy Middletown merchant.

Elisha Covell House (1856)

Elisha Covell built an Italianate-style house on Main Street in Portland around 1854-1856. He had come to Portland to work for Col. Joseph Blague, marrying Blague’s daughter Mary a few years after her father’s death. Covell then built his house on part of the Blague estate.

Moses Wilcox House (1753)

Most likely built in 1753, the same year he married, the house of Moses Wilcox is located on Main Street in Portland. The construction of the roof is a late example of colonial purlin framing.

Stonehaven (1888)

Completed in 1887 or 1888, Stonehaven is an impressive Queen Anne style house on Main Street in Portland. It was built for three sisters from the Brainerd family by their brother. The house acquired its name when it was used as a rental property during World War II. Today, Stonehaven is one of the locations of the Rushford Center, a provider of substance abuse and mental health treatment programs.

United Methodist Church, Portland (1853)

Portland’s United Methodist Church, originally known as the Methodist Episcopal Church, was built in 1853. In the preceding year, Rev. F.W. Bill became Portland’s first settled Methodist minister who began the subscription to build the church, which would be completed under his successors.

Ruth Callander House (1715)

The Ruth Callander House, also known as the White-Overton-Callander House, is on Main Street in Portland and was built around 1715 by Nathaniel White. The house was later expanded with a rear section to cover the well. Ruth Callander was a resident of the house in the twentieth century. She was a charter member of the Portland Historical Society and upon her death she bequeathed her house to become a museum of the town’s history. It opened to the public in June 2003 as the Ruth Callander House Museum of Portland History.