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

Capt. John E. Williams House (1861)

The hip-roofed house at 19 Gravel Street in Mystic was built in 1861 by Capt. John E. Williams. His earlier house on the site, built in 1844, was moved to make way for the new house. Capt. Williams was known for being the captain of the clipper ship Andrew Jackson, which was called the “Fastest Ship in the World.” Built by the firm of Irons & Grinnell in Mystic, the ship made a famous run in 1859–1860 around Cape Horn from New York City to San Francisco, which was performed in 89 days and 4 hours. The only other square-rigged ship to perform an 89-day run driving from New York City to California was the Flying Cloud, an extreme clipper which did so twice (in 1851 and 1854), the faster of these times being 89 days and 8 hours. Many consider this to be the record passage, because it was for a completed voyage, anchor to anchor, while the Andrew Jackson‘s time was pilot to pilot as the ship had to spend the night waiting for a pilot boat and did not actually tie up at a San Francisco wharf until the next day.

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Jeremiah Gildersleeve House (1807)

The house at 618 Main Street in Portland was erected in 1807 for Jeremiah Gildersleeve (1781-1857), a ship carpenter and navigator who was a member of the famous Gildersleeve shipbuilding family. He married Lucy Ann Cone in 1804.

New Video: Hartford’s Historic Department Stores

This is my presentation recorded live earlier today for the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum: “When Hartford Was a Retail Hub: the Growth of the City’s Great Department Stores (1890s – 1960s).”

New Video: Lost Buildings of Hartford Hospital

This video is about the buildings that Hartford Hospital erected at its main campus between 1857 and 1972. Many of these are now lost, including many of the hospital’s brownstone buildings erected in the early nineteenth century and early twentieth century.

New Video on Lost Hartford: W. T. Grant, Honiss Oyster House, United States Hotel, Regal Theater and more

In this video I talk about a section of State Street north of the Old State House in Hartford, Connecticut. In the nineteenth century this was the location of the popular United States Hotel. The hotel would be replaced by The First National Bank building, the W. T. Grant store and the Regal Theatre. These were all torn down to make way for the State House Square development in the 1980s. The famed Honiss Oyster House, the origins of which went back to 1845, was located in the basement of the hotel and later the Grant’s store before it closed in 1982.

New Video: History at the Corner of State and Main Streets, Hartford Connecticut

This video is about a historic corner of Hartford, Connecticut. What today is the Main Street side and entrance Pavilion of the State House Square complex was long a prominent site of now lost historic buildings and notable businesses. These included early 19th-century silverware producers, the publishers of Hartford’s yearly Geer’s City Directory, Goodwin’s drugstore, and the well-remembered Harvey & Lewis Building.

Amos Hollister House (1725)

The Amos Hollister House at 58-60 Tryon Street in South Glastonbury, built in about 1725 (or perhaps as early as 1695) for a member of the prominent Hollister family, maintains many of its original features, including its saltbox form.

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