Historic Buildings of Connecticut

This video is about lost buildings and the communities that erected them in a section of the old East Side of Hartford, Connecticut that was transformed by redevelopment in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Starting on the south side of Talcott Street, east of Market Street, I talk about St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church. Moving to the northeast corner of Market and Talcott Streets, I talk about the Brown School, where generations of children on the east side were educated. The school was built in 1868 and had annexes erected in 1897 and 1923. Next, I move to the northwest side of the intersection to talk about the Talcott Street Congregational Church, which was home to Hartford’s oldest African American congregation. The first church building was erected here in 1826 and the second in 1906. Next, I talk about three buildings that once stood along Market Street north of the intersection with Morgan Street. First is a silk mill erected in 1854 where ribbon was produced by the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company of Manchester, Connecticut. Next, I talk about Ados Israel Synagogue, erected in 1899 by Hartford’s oldest Orthodox congregation. Lastly I talk about the Union Settlement, a charitable organization that started as the Union for Home Work.

This video is about Armsmear, the estate of Samuel Colt in Hartford, Connecticut. The mansion survives today but the landscape, which once included picturesque ponds, statuary and an extensive complex of greenhouses, has been replaced with athletic facilities and a lawn.