93 Elm Street, Hartford (1865)

93 Elm Street, Hartford

Here’s a building that has recently been beautifully restored: 93 Elm Street in Hartford (on the left in the image above) is part of a row of houses (93, 95 and 97 Elm Street) located across from Bushnell Park. These Italianate brownstone structures, many more of which once lined Elm Street along the park, were built in the 1860s by Andrew West, builder-architect. They were probably originally built as two double (two-family) houses (93-95 and 97) and are referred to in the Nomination for the Elm Street Historic District as the Huntington-Callender and Chapman-Taft Houses. In recent years, No. 93 had fallen into disrepair, with exterior walls actually crumbling. Owners Sara and Luke Bronin restored the house, recreating a bay window to match the one at No. 95. For their efforts, they received an award from the Hartford Preservation Alliance last year.

Lebanon Grange Hall (1885)

Lebanon Green Market

Located at 199 West Town Street in Lebanon, just off the Lebanon Green, is a building which is today home to the Lebanon Green Market. It was built in 1885 by the Lebanon Grange No. 21 as a cooperative store and social hall–the first in Connecticut built specifically for the purpose of housing a Grange chapter. While nationally the Grange Movement became involved in political issues, the Lebanon Grange focused more on its educational and social role, with music playing an important part in its activities. The Lebanon Grange acquired an organ in 1898.

St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, Colchester (2006)

St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church

Ukrainian immigrants in Colchester formed a church in 1921, purchasing a house on Pleasant Street. The ground floor was to serve as a chapel and the second floor as the residence of the pastor. The new church was called the Greek Catholic Orthodox Independent Church of St. Mary. The parish became a member of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese in 1948 and a church with a gilded Byzantine cupola was soon constructed. The church was destroyed by an explosion on September 10, 2004. The cornerstone for a new St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church was dedicated on Monday, August 15, 2005 and the building, located 178 Linwood Avenue, was completed the following year.

Jehiel Hale House (1795)

1696 Main St., Glastonbury

At 1696 Main Street in Glastonbury is a center-chimney house built circa 1795 for Jehiel Hale, who had married his cousin Mercy Hale the year before. The property was deeded to Jehiel by his father Theodore Hale in 1797. A later Hale to live in the house was William Turner Hale, a well-known farmer who also had an ice business. William Turner Hale father, Hezekiah Hale, was a sailor who sailed around the world three times and was on the whaling trip made famous in Richard Henry Dana‘s book Two Years Before the Mast (1840).