New Video on Hartford’s Lost Ely Mansion

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My latest video is about two lost Hartford mansions. The Ely family homes stood on Main Street, where the Capitol Prep Magnet School is today. They were built in 1811 and 1830-1832 by William Ely, a wealthy shipping merchant who had a town called Elyton named for him in Alabama. Elton was later absorbed into the city of Birmingham, but the Elyton Hotel in Birmingham and Ely Street in Hartford perpetuate his name today.

New Video: Lost Barnabas Deane House (1780-1926)

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This video is about a house that was built circa 1780 in Hartford, Connecticut for the Revolutionary War diplomat Silas Deane. Deane never got to live in the house (in fact he never set foot in it!), but his brother Barnabas moved in instead. The house was built by the Scottish builder William Spratts, who had been a prisoner of war. He built a number of other high-style residences in Connecticut at the time. The Deane House was torn down in 1926.