On Grand Street in Waterbury is a white marble Art Deco post office, built in 1931-1932. The building was designed by George Oakley Totten. The facade of the Post Office features eleven relief panels illustrating the history of communication and transportation. In 1971, the building was renamed the John S. Monagan Federal Building and expanded in the rear to accommodate the District Federal Court and several federal agencies. (more…)
On the night of February 2-3, 1902, a massive fire destroyed nearly all of downtown Waterbury. One of the survivors of the conflagration was the facade of the Waterbury American Building on Grand Street. The Richardsonian Romanesque building had been constructed in 1894 to the plans of Theodore B. Peck, who also designed the Apothecaries Hall building, constructed the same year in Waterbury. The American newspaper was started in 1844 and merged with the Republican in 1924 to become the Republican-American.
The house at 270 West Main Street in Waterbury was built about 1910 for real estate developer George Schlegel. The Colonial Revival house stands out for its distinctive circular “wedding cake” porches, which have Tuscan columns on the first level and Ionic columns on the second level. The house has long been home to Mulville Funeral Home, founded by Joseph Mulvill in 1891.
The house at 70 Hillside Avenue in Waterbury was built in 1902 for James H. Gross, superintendent of the Scovill Manufacturing Company. His Tudor house has two Dutch gable ends on the front facade and a Colonial Revival entryway.
The Tudor Revival building at 74 Central Avenue in Waterbury opened in 1930 as the headquarters of the Waterbury Women’s Club. In the 1960s, the building became the home of the Waterbury branch of the Salvation Army.
The firm of Palliser and Palliser, who had earlier been responsible for the Benedict-Miller and Mary Mitchell Houses on Hillside Avenue in Waterbury, were hired by Nelson J. Welton to design another house on the same street. Built in 1883, the Stick style house at 83 Hillside Avenue was featured in the 1887 book, Palliser’s New Cottage Homes. According to The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, Volume 2 (1896),
Mr. Welton is a civil and hydraulic engineer, and is a member of the state board of civil engineers. He was appointed surveyor for New Haven county in 1850; was street surveyor of the city of Waterbury for thirty-two years, and was engineer in charge of the construction of the city water works and of the city’s system of sewerage. He has been president of the water board, with the exception of two years, since 1867. He has served the city and town in various other official capacities, and was representative to the General Assembly in 1861.
The Welton House was later much altered from its original appearance, including the addition of a Colonial Revival porch in the 1920s.
Architect Wilfred Griggs designed the house at 70 Pine Street in Waterbury, which was built in 1908 for Margery (or Marjorie) Hayden. Her father was the inventor Hiram Hayden. When his house next door burned down, Margery and her sister Rose donated the land to the City of Waterbury to become Hayden Homestead Park. Margery Hayden bequeathed her own home to Waterbury Child Guidance Clinic in 1974.
Another house on the same street designed by Griggs is at at 175 Pine Street. It was built around 1901 for his brother, David C. Griggs. According to the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Vol. III (1918):
In the acquirement of his education David C. Griggs attended Miss Pritchard’s private school, the public schools of Waterbury and the Sheffield Scientific School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1892. His early business experience came to him through eight months’ service with the Berlin Iron & Bridge Company and in February, 1893, he became identified with the Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Company, in which he worked his way upward through the various positions of the engineering department. In 1899 he was made a director of the company and was chosen to his present position as secretary in 1902.
David C. Griggs and his wife, Helen Trowbridge Williams, moved into the house in 1904. They lived there until their deaths (David in 1958 and Helen in 1966). The house’s current occupant is architect John J. D’Amico.
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