The Hartford Electric Light Company began operations in 1883, led by its first president, Austin Cornelius Dunham. He had earlier pioneered the use of electricity for industrial lighting in 1878 by installing a six-lamp arc-light system in a building of the Willimantic Linen Company. The Hartford Electric Light Company established an office on Pearl Street in Hartford, which was later replaced by the current building at 266 Pearl Street. According to the Hartford Courant of April 14, 1913:
The new building to be erected on Pearl Street by the Hartford Electric Light Company and covering the site of the old office of the company and the vacant land immediately west of it, and extending north from Pearl street to the present Pearl street substation of the company, will have a frontage of substantially 131 feet, and a depth of 100 feet. It will be five stories high, with a basement.
It is to be constructed as a fireproof building of brick and steel throughout. The entire front, together with the east and west sides to a depth of twenty-nine feet, will be constructed of limestone up to the level of the second story. The rest of the structure will be of a soft grey brick, harmonizing with the limestone of the first floor.
On July 27, 1914, the Courant announced that the new building was ready and the company would move into its new quarters that day. The Hartford Electric Light Co. (HELCO) sold the building in 1960 (but continued to rent space in it for a number of years). In more recent years, the building, which has had an extra floor added on the roof, has been converted into condominiums.
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