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

William Welles House (1750)

The house at 1559 Main Street in Glastonbury was the home of William Welles, a prominent citizen of the town. Welles was a tutor at Yale. During the Revolutionary War, when students were dispersed away from New Haven, Yale classes were held in the house (May 1777 to June 1778). Welles left Glastonbury c. 1798 and the house was acquired by Joseph Stephens, who operated a forge behind the house near the river. Originally having a saltbox form, the house was later expanded and updated in the Georgian style. It also has a later Greek Revival front doorway.

Barn at Rising Sun Tavern (1820)

Adjacent to the Rising Sun Tavern in North Haven is a barn on the same property that was originally located on Long Hill Road in Guilford. Built circa 1820-1830, the barn was moved to North Haven in 1999 and rebuilt. The original post and beam construction was maintained with few timbers needing to be replaced, although new siding was required as the original had deteriorated.

Samuel Maltby House (1838)

The Maltby family were prominent in the industrial development of the village of Northford in North Branford. In 1854, brothers Samuel and Julius Maltby became major shareholders in the Paug Manufacturing Company, which produced farm implements and the machines used to make them. In 1816, Samuel Maltby married Charlotte DeWitt, the daughter of the governor of Barbados, who he likely met when he was attending to the family’s business interests in the West Indies. They built a Greek Revival house in 1838 which still stands at 2 Maltby Lane in Northford.

107 Cornwall Avenue, Cheshire (1855)

The house at 107 Cornwall Avenue in Cheshire was built in 1855. The house has been renovated a number of times over the years. The current doorway and front entry porch are thought to be the work of local architect Alice Washburn.

St. Bridget Church, Manchester (1903)

The first Catholic Mass in Manchester was was celebrated in 1848, by Rev. John Brady of Hartford, in the house of mill worker John Kennedy. As described in a history of “The Church in Manchester,” that appeared in The Sacred Heart Review (No. 14, April 3, 1897):

Next morning Mr. Kennedy was discharged by the foreman of the mill in which he was employed; but the mill-owner, Mr. Buell, hearing of this action, discharged the bigot and reinstated Mr. Kennedy. Fr. Brady came at intervals until 1850, when Rev. James Smyth began visiting Manchester at stated times, saying Mass in the house of James Duffy, on Union street.

As related in the history of the Diocese of Hartford by Rev. James H. O’Donnell in vol. 2 of the History of the Catholic Church in the New England States (1899):

When Rev. Peter Egan assumed charge of the Catholics of [St. Bernard parish,] Rockville in 1854, their co-religionists of Manchester passed under his jurisdiction. His pastorate was marked by the purchase of a church lot from Mr. E. Weaver, at a cost of £200. This site was one of the most eligible and commanding in the neighborhood. The Rev. Bernard Tully, who succeeded Father Egan in December, 1856, set about to carry out the designs of his predecessor. On Tuesday, October 19, 1858, the frame of the new church was raised in the presence of a large congregation, most of them Irish-Americans. The Cheney Brothers stopped their mills in order to render all the assistance possible. The dedication occurred on Decembers, 1858; 500 persons were present in the church on the occasion. The celebrant of the Mass was the Rev. Father O’Dwyer of Collinsville, and an appropriate discourse was delivered by Rev. Thomas Quinn of Meriden. Thenceforth to 1869, St. Bridget’s church was served from Rockville

St. Bridget parish was established in 1869 and Father James Campbell became the town’s first resident Catholic pastor. By the turn of the century the parish required a larger church. The cornerstone for a new church was blessed on January 25, 1896. and Bishop Michael A. Tierney blessed the completed St. Bridget Church, located at 80 Main Street, on November 26, 1903.

Douglas Orr House (1941)

Douglas Orr (1892-1966) was a prolific Connecticut architect based in New Haven. He designed such buildings as the Southern New England Telephone Company building and the Quinnipiack Club in New Haven, the Willoughby Wallce Memorial Library in Stony Creek and the Robert A. Taft Memorial in Washington, D.C. Orr designed his own house in the International style. Built in 1941, it is located at 19 Prospect Hill Road in the Stony Creek section of Branford. (more…)

John F. Bingham House (1840)

The Greek Revival house at 55 Hebron Road in Andover was built in 1840 by John F. Bingham (1808-1844). The Bingham family were descendants of Eleazar Bingham, who purchased land in Andover in 1750 that passed to his grandson, Cyrus Bingham. John F. Bingham was the nephew of Cyrus (he was the son of Cyrus’ brother Harvey Bingham). He received a farm where he built his house and also had a sawmill on Straddle Brook. He also served as Justice of the Peace.