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

Edwin Griswold House (1838)

Edwin Griswold (1813-1897) built the house at 33 Main Street in Ivoryton in 1838, on land he had purchased from his father, Daniel Griswold. Edwin was the partner of Samuel Merritt Comstock in the combmaking firm of Comstock & Griswold. Comstock had a house nearly identical to Griswold’s built at the same time on the other side of Bracket Lane. In 1903 the house was acquired by Clarence Bushnell. He and Linwell Behrens were bicycle salesmen who in 1904 started Behrens and Bushnell, one of the first auto dealerships in Middlesex County. The house was later owned by Comstock, Cheney & Co. and was also a parsonage of the Ivoryton Congregational Church.

Abner Kirtland House (1767)

The house at 19 Union Street in Deep River was built c. 1767 by Lieut. Abner Kirtland (1745-1834). He was the son of Capt. Philip Kirtland (1693-1764), one of the first settlers of what would become Deep River. Abner Kirtland served in the Revolutionary War, being commissioned 1st Lt. in Col. William Worthington’s Regiment of the 7th Conn. Militia in 1780.

Holy Rosary Church (1967)

Bishop John J. Nilan created Holy Rosary Catholic parish in 1908 to serve Ansonia’s Italian immigrants. The parish worshiped at the former Assumption Parish Church on Main Street (a new Assumption Church had just been erected on North Cliff Street). A new Holy Rosary Church, built at 10 Father Salemi Drive, was dedicated in 1967.

Capt. Dolbeare House (1855)

The Capt. Dolbeare House, located at 70 North Cove Road in Old Saybrook, is an 1855 ship captain’s home. The house was enlarged and remodeled in 1931, at which time the two-story colonnade on the west gable end was most likely added. The house was renovated by developer John Aldi in the 1990s.

Grantmoor Motor Lodge (1959)

When it opened in 1959, the stylishly modern Grantmoor Motor Lodge, 3000 Berlin Turnpike in Newington, was billed as “Gracious Grantmoor” and offered travelers a pool, golf course and restaurant/banquet hall (the latter added in 1960). When I-91 was built in 1965 it bypassed traffic away from the Turnpike and the Grantmoor soon switched to a more adult theme that included mirrors on the ceilings. (more…)

Madison Post Office (1940)

The United States Post Office in Madison (781 Boston Post Road) was completed in 1940. Inside is a New Deal era mural called “Gathering Seaweed from the Sound,” painted by William Abbott Cheever in 1940. The building and mural were created using Treasury Department funds.

Stanley-Woodruff-Allen House (1752)

The red saltbox house at 37 Buena Vista Road in West Hartford was built about 1752 by Samuel Stanley for his son, also named Samuel, who married Joanna Goodman in 1754. It was later owned by members of the Woodruff and Allen families and in 1943 was purchased by West Hartford to be a caretakers house for the town’s golf course. In 1976 the West Hartford Art League began leasing the building, which was restored to become the Saltbox Gallery.