Historic Buildings of Connecticut - Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

Ray S. Wilbur House (1840)

The house at 29 Pearl Street in Noank was built in 1840 for Ray S. Wilbur.

Cornelius Fowler House (1880)

The house at 11 Cove Street in Noank was built in 1880 and has a modern entrance porch. It was the home of Cornelius Fowler, who may be the same Cornelius Fowler who was a veteran of the Civil War, serving in the Twenty-First Regiment Infantry Regiment. Cornelius and his brother, Sylvester Crossman Fowler (1848-1919), were lobster fisherman.

The building at 55 Sylvan Street in Noank, formerly used as a church, was built in 1902-1903. It combines elements of the Gothic and Shingle styles with distinctive Art Nouveau windows. As related in Historic Groton (1909):

The Methodist church was formed as a chapel, partially dependent on the conference for support, in the year 1878. After years of using what was known as the chapel, it became advisable to build a better and larger house, which was done in 1903. They have now an auditorium with a seating capacity of two hundred and fifty to three hundred, fitted with modern improvements. A well equipped kitchen and Sunday school rooms are below the main auditorium.

The Noank Methodist Church later merged with the Groton Methodist Church to form Christ United Methodist Church, which moved to a new building at 200 Hazelnut Hill Road in 1972. The former Noank Church was converted into a residence.

Thomas Harris House (1755)

The house at 117 Maple Street in Wethersfield was built c. 1755. It was the homestead of Thomas Harris (1695-1774) and remained in the Harris family for many years. The area around the Harris Homestead, where members of the family built other houses, was known as Harris Hill. Harris had a son, Thomas Harris, Jr., who died in 1774 from injuries sustained at a barn raising. His son, Thomas Harris III (1771-1829) had a son, Chauncey Harris (1816-1875), who was principal of Hartford’s South School, which was later renamed for him. Chauncey Harris also served as the city’s Superintendent of Schools.

Isaac Eaton House (1840)

The house at 19 Chaplin Street in Chaplin was built in 1840 by Isaac Eaton (1801-1846). He married Maria Butler in 1824 and they had three sons: Horace, Isaac Lester, and Albert Dwight. Born the year the house was built, Albert Dwight Eaton died in 1851 at the age of eleven. His tombstone once stood in the home’s garden, but was removed when a family monument was erected in the Chaplin Center Cemetery.

Mansfield Town Office Building (1935)

For many years, Mansfield’s Old Town Hall (built in 1843) was used to store town records and hold town meetings. Business was conducted at office holders’ homes. Eventually the need to have a central place for town offices led to the construction of the Town Office Building, a WPA project completed in 1935 (the date on the cornerstone), next to the Town Hall. An addition was constructed in 1957 and town offices were moved to another larger building in the late 1970s. In 1980, the Mansfield Historical Society moved into the old Office Building.

Union Station, Hartford (1889)

Hartford’s Union Station is located between Union Place and Spruce Street, north of Asylum Street at the western end of the city’s downtown. The original Union Station was an Italianate structure built in 1849. It was replaced by a new station, built in 1887-1889. Hartford architect George Keller initially conceived the design, but the plans were drawn up by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston. A fire in February 1914 gutted the building‘s roof and interior. The structure was repaired and rebuilt, but instead of the original hipped roof with large gables on the Prospect Place Side, the building was raised to a full third story. A major restoration of Union Station was completed in 1987. Future alterations to the rail line and platforms will need to be made as part of the I-84 Hartford Project. (more…)