Dime Savings Bank, Waterbury (1927)

The bank building at 60 North Main Street in Waterbury was built for the Dime Savings Bank in 1927. The Dime Savings Bank was incorporated in 1870 and had previously been based in Victorian-era house. The bank’s new building was designed to reflect the architecture of the Spanish Renaissance by the New York the firm of York and Sawyer and features sculpted relief panels of allegorical figures and symbols of the Zodiac. The building, expanded in 1951, is currently available as commercial & office space.

The James Abbott House (1875)

Built sometime between 1875 and 1878, the James Abbott House, on First Avenue in Waterbury, is transitional in style between High Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne. It was built for James M. Abbott of Holmes, Booth & Haydens, a brass and copper manufacturing company that was the first to produce silver plates for making daguerreotypes. As mentioned in Waterbury and Her Industries (1889), Abbot “was treasurer from 1867 to 1869, when A. S. Chase was elected president and treasurer, and Mr. Abbott was made secretary, a position he held for many years.” At the turn-of-the-century, the house was owned by George Rockwell. According to the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Volume 3 (1918):

Rogers & Brother became members of the International Silver Company at the time of its organization, in the year 1898, and the business at Waterbury has remained under the management of George Rockwell, the former treasurer and manager of Rogers & Brother, and present director and secretary of the International Silver Company.

In the mid-twentieth century, the house was divided into four apartments.

The Charles E. Puffer House (1904)

Built around 1904, the house at 176 Buckingham Street in Waterbury is notable for its stuccoed exterior. It was the home of Charles E. Puffer, an insurance agent. As described in the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, vol 3 (1918):

In 1901 he came to Waterbury, where he entered the employ of George E. Judd, a well known and successful insurance underwriter. He bent his energies toward acquainting himself with every phase of the business and as the years passed his value to his employer so increased that on the 1st of January, 1911, he was admitted to a partnership under the firm style of Judd & Puffer, an association that has since been maintained. He has a high reputation in insurance circles and incidentally has negotiated many important realty transfers and his opinions concerning property are largely accepted as authority.

Theophilus Hyde House (1893)

The Theophilus Hyde House, built on Pine Street in Waterbury in 1893, is good example of a Queen Anne house with Stick style details. According to The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut, Vol. 2 (1896), edited by Joseph Anderson:

Theophilus Rogers Hyde, son of Theophilus Rogers and Fanny (Hazard) Hyde, was born in Stonington, December 18, 1855. He was educated at the high school in Westerly, R. I., and graduated from there in June, 1874. In September following he came to Waterbury to accept a position in the office of the Scovill Manufacturing company, and has continued there until the present time. On March 11, 1880, he married Jennie Pelton, daughter of William Burdon of Brooklyn, N. Y. They have five children, three sons and two daughters

Cowell-Guilfoile Building (1908)

The Georgian-Revival style Cowell-Guilfoile Building is on the corner of Grand and Leavenworth Streets in Waterbury. It was built in 1908 and the architect was Joseph T. Smith. The building is named for two law partners who were involved in its construction: Francis P. Guilfoile, a lawyer, legislator and mayor of Waterbury, and Judge George H. Cowell of the Waterbury district court.

St. Anne’s Church, Waterbury (1906)

St. Anne’s Parish in Waterbury was organized in 1886 to serve the city’s French and French-Canadian Catholics. The parish’s first church was built in 1888-1889 on Dover Street. In 1906, work began on a much larger church, with the exterior being completed in one year. In 1912, the basement was finished and used for services while the rest of the interior was being worked on. It took several years to accumulate the necessary funds and there was also a delay due to the First World War, but the finished church was dedicated in 1922. The Gothic-style church has a structure of steel and brick with an exterior of granite and Vermont blue marble. The church survived fires in 1971 and 1978 and work was also undertaken in 1979 to repair the two great spires and dome. These signature features continue to impress motorists traveling through Waterbury on I-84.

UPDATE: Sadly, the condition of the two towering spires continued to deteriorate and they were removed in August, 2019.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Waterbury (1909)

As described in the first volume of the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley (1918), “In the year 1899 the Italian Catholics of Waterbury were organized into Our Lady of Lourdes Parish by the Rev. Father Michael A. Karam, the first pastor, at the request of the Right Rev. Bishop Tierney.” The parish’s first chapel was later replaced with the current Our Lady of Lourdes Church on South Main Street, begun in 1903 and completed in 1909. It was modeled after the Roman church of Santa Francesca Romana. According to the History quoted above:

The church has a frontage of 70 feet on South Main Street and is 127 feet in depth. The height of the nave or body of the church is 55 feet, and the campanile or bell tower is 100 feet in height. The basement was first completed and roofed over, and used for a number of years for church services, and was occupied also while the super-structure was being built. The general plan consists of a high nave, lighted by clerestory windows, with two aisles. Each aisle terminates in a semi-circular apse in which the side altars are placed. The main altar is also placed in a large semi-circular apse, surrounded by an entablature and columns in which are arches and niches for the numerous statues with which the interior is adorned. The exterior of the church is built of gray pressed brick and trimmed with Indiana limestone and terra cotta. The main roofs are of slate. The campanile, which was afterwards destroyed, was built near the rear after the manner of Italian churches.