Built around 1850, the Jared Buell House, at 113-115 Boston Street in Guilford is an Italianate house, designed by Henry Austin of New Haven. In 1907, the house was converted from a double to a single-family residence and a small cupola was added. The house was built for Jared Buell, who married Lydia Marie Weld in 1819.
The house at 17 Prospect Street in New London, built not long after 1845, is one of several houses on the street attributed to local builder John Bishop. The design for this high-stye Greek Revival house’s columns is taken from Minard Lafever‘s pattern book, The Beauties of Modern Architecture (1835).
At 2038 Main Street in Glastonbury is the gambrel-roofed Roswell Goodrich House. Roswell was a descendant of William Goodrich, an early settler of Wethersfield. William purchased land in what is now Glastonbury in 1646, on which his descendents later built homes. The house at 2030 Main Street was built about 1760 by Captain John Goodrich (pdf) and the one at 2038 was built about 1789 by Roswell, son of Captain John’s younger brother David Goodrich. Roswell married Rachael Stevens, a descendent of Rev. Timothy Stevens , Glastonbury’s first minister (his house is at 1808 Main Street). Their son Israel, who later bought the house at 2030 Main Street, was a farmer who played the violin and also taught a dancing school.
At 27 Leavenworth Street in Waterbury is a house built in the early 1860s and much altered over the years. Known as the Armstrong/McDonald House, it has an Italianate form, but the exterior details are Georgian Revival. In about 1897, the house became the headquarters of the Young Women’s Friendly League (called the Waterbury Institute of Craft and Industry after 1908), which aided young working women. The organization began in 1889 and was incorporated in 1893. A large brick Georgian Revival building (31 Leavenworth Street) was constructed in 1900 as a rear addition to the house. This was the Young Women’s Friendly League Assembly Hall, also known as Leavenworth Hall.
The upcoming issue of Connecticut Explored magazine has a picture of the building at the southwest corner of Bank and Golden Streets in New London. It was built in 1844 as the home of Captain Giles Harris and had a grocery store on the ground floor. It was built on the site of an earlier house, constructed in the later 1700s, which had been the home of Dr. Samuel Brown and his wife Sarah. When she passed away in 1794, the house was sold to Daniel Deshon and in 1844 to Capt. Harris. A number of businesses existed in the building over the years. From 1919 to 1985, the building was home to a restaurant, known after 1931 as the Hygienic Restaurant, a popular 24 hour eatery. After the restaurant closed, the building remained vacant until it was threatened with demolition in 1996. Saved by preservationists and the local arts community, the building was restored to become Hygienic Art, Inc., a center of the fine arts community. An adjacent lot was acquired in 2001 and developed into the Hygienic Sculpture Gardens and Outdoor Theater Art Park.
St. James’ Episcopal Church was established in North Glastonbury in 1857 and the church at 2584 Main Street was built in 1859. The interior was gutted by fire in 1904, but the church was able to reopen for services within one year. The building was enlarged in 1965 and in 1978 a parcel of town redevelopment land was purchased to become a parking lot and major repairs were made to the church and parish house (the latter built in 1956). (more…)
At 291 Main Street in Middletown is a former U.S. Post Office, a limestone Renaissance Revival structure built in 1916. Planning for a new post office had commenced in 1911, but there was controversy over where to built it. Its location, at the southwest corner of Court and Main Streets, had been owned by the Federal Government since 1841. The Post Office ceased operations in 1977 and is now used by Liberty Bank.
