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

Barbour-Cooper-Jensen Cottage (1905)

The summer cottage at 9 Pettipaug Avenue in the Borough of Fenwick in Old Saybrook has been described as a gem that is “particularly illustrative of shingle style architecture” (by Christopher Little in “A Summer Place,” Places, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1984). It was built in 1905 by Lucius B. Barbour (1878-1934) of Hartford (whose 1865 house on Washington Street still survives). Their daughter Alice was a childhood friend of Katharine Hepburn. In 1953, after the death of Barbour’s widow Charlotte Cordelia Hilliard Barbour, the cottage was sold to Richard F. Cooper and in 1961 it was sold again to Oliver Jensen (1914-2005), a co-founder of American Heritage Magazine. He was also one of the founders and the chief visionary for the 1971 revival of the Connecticut Valley Railroad (today part of the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat attraction). You can read more about the cottage in Marion Hepburn Grant’s The Fenwick Story (Connecticut Historical Society, 1974), pages 110-114.

Bradley, Hoyt & Co. Mill (1866)

Bradley, Hoyt & Co. constructed a textile mill in South Britain, on the east bank of the Pomperaug River (modern address: 24 Hawkins Road) in 1866. Two-story additions were later made to the original four-story mill. In 1901 the building was taken over by the Hawkins Manufacturing Company, makers of animal traps and other metal products. In 1895, the Hawkins Company, makers of tacks and buttons, had merged with the Blake and Lamb Company, animal trap manufacturers. The factory was powered by a nearby dam, part of which was knocked down in the Flood of 1955. The factory operated into the 1960s.

Felix Starkey House (1803)

The house at 51 Main Street in Essex was built in 1803 by Thomas Millard, a shipcarver and housewright, and was the home of Felix Starkey from 1805 to 1856. Felix Starkey (1777-1856) was a merchant and the brother of Timothy Starkey. He married Esther Hayden. (The sign on the house reads “Timothy Starkey 1720”).

John Rose House (1747)

The John Rose House at 48 Bradley Street. in Branford was built c. 1747. The house was later altered in the Federal period. By 1897 the house was owned by John Buckley, who worked at Malleable Iron Fittings (MIF), which by 1915 was the largest employer in Branford.

Rock Ledge (1913)

James A. Farell (1863-1941), who was president of U.S. Steel from 1911-1932, built a Tudor Revival mansion in Norwalk in 1911. Designed by Edward Moeller, the original half-timbered building building burned down in 1913 and a new mansion, designed by Tracy Walker and Leroy Ward, was constructed to replace it. A granite structure, the mansion was modeled on Elizabethan country homes, the architects having been sent to England at Farell’s expense to do research for the building. Called Rock Ledge, it was used as a summer home by Farell. The mansion’s later owners included the Sperry Rand Corporation, which developed the UNIVAC business computer on the property, and Hewitt Associates. Located at 40 Highland Avenue in Rowayton, The mansion is now owned by Graham Capital Management LP and is known as the Rock Ledge Financial Center.

James Hall House (1786)

The house at 15 High Street in Suffield on the Green is an example of an eighteenth-century Cape Cod with very modern and large dormer windows. Known as the James Hall House, it was built in 1786.

Windham Center Church (1887)

The First Congregational Church of Windham was formally organized in 1700, having met informally since 1692. The church’s first meeting house, built c. 1697-1700, was replaced by a larger one (or else the original one was enlarged) c. 1713-1716. A new building was constructed in 1751-1755 and pulled down in 1848 to build another. The current church was built in 1887. It is now known as the Windham Center Church and is not a member of any denomination.