Frank M. Butler House (1882)

Built in about 1882, the house at 37 Maple Street in Plainville represents the last phase of the nineteenth-century Italianate style. It was the home of Frank M. Butler and his wife, Julia E. Butler. Frank M. Butler was a partner and treasurer in the carriage-making firm, Condell, Martin & Butler Company (a pdf file of the New York Tribune of October 29, 1883 reports a fire the previous day at the company’s factory in Plainville and adds “The fire was of incendiary origin.”). In 1886, Butler sold the house and moved to Holyoke, Mass. Butler’s father was the half-brother of the famous Civil War general and politician, Benjamin F. Butler.