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

United Congregational Church, Bridgeport (1926)

The first Congregational meeting house in what is now Bridgeport (then called Statfield) was built by 1695 at what is today Park Avenue and Worth Street. It was replaced by a new meeting house c. 1717, located on the northwest corner of Park and North Avenues. The third meeting house, located on Broad Street, was dedicated in 1807. The powerful influence of the Second Great Awakening led to a division of the congregation in 1830, with a new Second Congregational Church being built at Broad and Gilbert Streets. The old church was called North Church and the new church was called South Church. A new North Church was built (on the same site as its predecessor) in the Gothic Revival style in 1850. A new brick South Church was also constructed (on the same site as its predecessor) and was dedicated in January, 1862. In 1916 the North and South Churches merged and planned to erect a new united church on the site of the old North Church, which was demolished. Construction was delayed by the First World War and then, when the former site of North Church was deemed to be too small, a new lot was purchased on the corner of Park Avenue and State Street in 1924. The new United Congregational Church was completed and dedicated in 1926. A Georgian Revival edifice, it was designed by Allen & Collens of New York.

Bradley-Wheeler Barn (1847)

On the northwest corner of the Bradley-Wheeler House property in Westport is a heptagonal (seven-sided) cobblestone barn with an octagonal roof. It is thought to have been built circa 1847 by Farmin Patchin, a mason and blacksmith who owned the house at the time. The original uses of the barn are unknown, but it was possibly a smithy. The northwest corner of the building was originally attached to a wood frame barn that is no longer standing. Renovated in late 1980s/early 1990s, the barn is now home to the Museum of Westport History run by the Westport Historical Society.

Old Cider Mill (1870)

Happy Halloween!! In keeping with the Fall spirit, today’s building is the Old Cider Mill in Glastonbury. Recognized as the oldest continuously operating Cider Mill in the United States (starting in the early nineteenth century?), the current building was constructed as early as the 1870s.

Jehiel Goodrich House (1760)

The house at 620 Main Street, at the corner of Foote Road, in Glastonbury was built by Jehiel Goodrich (1741-1818) around 1760 (but traditionally dates to 1743) on land he had received from his father, William Goodrich (1697 or 1701-1787), in 1758. The ell was added later. A later owner of the house was Earl Hodge, an organizer of the Historical Society of Glastonbury.

Allyn Williams House (1803)

Capt. Allyn Williams (1769-1813), a carpenter, built the Cape Cod-type house at 2 Allyn Lane in Gales Ferry in Ledyard in 1803. He had earlier owned a house, purchased in 1798, that was near the Upper Wharf, close to the ferry across the Thames River. He died in 1813 and the house was acquired from his widow, Susannah Ormsley Williams, by his third cousin, Christopher Allyn, in 1820. Christoper Allyn was a whaling captain who made five trips between 1831 and 1843 and was a part owner of a store near the Lower Wharf from 1821 until his death in 1871. The house was then owned by his son Noyes B. Allyn, who was an active civic leader and supporter of the church in Gales Ferry. The house has an ell built in 1855.

Hoyt’s Theatre (1892)

Hoyt’s Theatre is a former music hall at 130 Washington Street in South Norwalk. It was built by I. Mortimer Hoyt, father of Ira Ford Hoyt, who also became a theatrical manager. As related in an article in The Norwalk Hour of February 3, 1922 (“Early Theatrical Days in Norwalk”):

Mr. Hoyt was manager for fourteen years of old Music hall . . . There came a day when he realized that a playhouse, in order to achieve a full measure of success, should be on the ground floor, easy of ingress and egress. The experience of getting scenery in and out of Music hall, frequently through third-story windows; the limited stage room for the production of some of the plays of that day; the two long flights of stairs leading to the auditorium, and still another flight to the gallery, were some of the difficulties Mr. Hoyt had to contend with. In 1890, after prolonged negotiations with the Marvin brothers for the land, he began the erection of Hoyt’s theater, which was formally opened in 1892, with Oliver Dowd Byron in “Across the Continent” as the attraction.

The theatre was first listed in the city directory in 1893 and by 1923 it was listed as the Rialto Theatre, operated by Warner Brothers as a movie house. The interior was remodeled in the Art Deco style in 1941. The theatre closed c. 1959-1961 and has since contained other businesses on the first floor with condominiums above. (more…)

Manchester Green School (1923)

The building that was once the Manchester Green Elementary School is located at 549 Middle Turnpike East in Manchester. It was built in 1921-1923. Earlier school buildings had served the village of Manchester Green going back to 1751. Ending its role as an elementary school in 1978, the building was then converted to become the Manchester Senior Center.