Former Bantam Methodist Church Parsonage (1915)

A good example of the American Foursquare style is the house just east of the Market on Bantam Road in the Bantam section of Litchfield (its official address is 15 Tulip Drive). It was built in 1915 to serve as the parsonage of the Bantam Methodist Church. The church sold the property to the Bantam Lumber Company in 1973. The house was likely a mail order precut kit house produced by The Aladdin Company.

William T. Tibbals House (1857)

William T. Tibbals House
William T. Tibbals House

The William T. Tibbals House, at 11 Old Middletown Road in the Cobalt section of the town of East Hampton, has an unusual shape that some have classified as an octagon but seems closer to an oval and is said to be known as “the round house.” The roof may have had an octagon shape at one time, but today it seems to have the sides of a dodecagon, or 12-sided polygon. The house was built in 1857, which was during the peak of the fad in construction of octagon houses, and it has the stucco exterior and bracketed roof typical of octagon house construction, so perhaps we could consider it a relative of the octagon houses. It was built for William Thadeus Tibbals, operated an oakum works (used for caulking wooden ships) on Cobalt Stream that had been started by his father, Thadeus Tibbals, in 1828. After William’s death, his widow lived in the house and his son, Irvin Tibbals, who continued the oakum business with William’s brothers.

(more…)

Calhoun-Hollister-Anson-Solley House (1866)

Simeon Calhoun built two octagon houses in the town of Washington during the Civil War period. One was erected for Treat Nettleton on Nettleton Hollow Road and the other (pictured above) was built on at 142 Judea Cemetery Road in about 1866. The house was purchased by the Hollister family in 1881. They gave their name to the farm on the property called Holliecroft. Harold B. Anson (brother of James A. Anson), who had a painting company, bought the house in 1941. The Solley family bought the house from Anson in 1950. They operated Holliecroft as a dairy farm until 1960 and then focused on growing crops. The house was owned by Nancy F. Solley for many years

(more…)

Salem Evangelical Covenant Church (1889)

Former Salem Covenant Congregational Church, Washington CT

Swedish immigrants in the town of Washington began work on a church adjacent to the bridge over the Shepaug River in the Washington Depot section of town in 1888 and it was dedicated on the Sunday before Christmas 1889. Originally known as the Swedish branch of the Congregational Church in Washington, the congregation split off on its own in 1892 to become the Salem Evangelical Covenant Church. That same year, other Swedish immigrants erected Trinity Lutheran Church just across the street. The Salem Covenant Church congregation relocated to a new church at 96 Baldwin Hill Road in 1977 and the old church building is now a private home.

(more…)

Samuel Nettleton House (1814)

Daniel Nettleton (1766-1829) and his wife Eunice Baldwin Nettleton came from Milford in about 1789 and settled in the town of Washington in an area that came to be called Nettleton Hollow. Across from the original Nettleton homestead, their son Samuel (1791-1852) built the house at 230 Nettleton Hollow Road in in 1814. He moved into the new house while his parents and his brother, Lyman Nettleton, remained in the old homestead, which stood until it was taken down in 1867 by Samuel’s nephew, Treat Nettleton, who moved into an octagon house built for him nearby. The Samuel Nettleton House remained in the family for well over a century and a half.

(more…)