Collins-Spencer House (1727)

77 Fair St., Guilford

The John Collins-Stephen Spencer House, at 77 Fair Street in Guilford, is a Colonial saltbox house. In 1670, John Collins built an earlier house on the site. The current house was built c. 1727 around the the surviving chimney of the 1670 structure. Stephen Spencer, a blacksmith, had acquired the property in 1726. Deacon Peter Stevens of Saybrook bought it in 1804. Ten years later he sold it to the town of Guilford, which used it as an almshouse. In 1826, when East Guilford became the town of Madison, town property was divided and the almshouse, although located within Guilford, was owned by Madison. This situation lasted until 1832, when Madison sold the house to William H. Stevens.

Arthur Magill, Jr. House (1821)

Arthur Magill, Jr. House-Chase School

The building at 625-631 Main Street in Middletown is a Late Federal-style mansion (with early Greek Revival features), built in 1821 by Arthur Magill, Jr. With his father, Magill founded the Middletown Manufacturing Company, the first woolen mill to use steam power. Financial setbacks and a lost law suit in the Connecticut Supreme Court forced Magill to give up the property in 1832. From 1835 to 1870, the house was home to a boys preparatory school, run by Daniel Chase. D. Luther Briggs later lived in the house. He was Mayor of Middletown from 1890 to 1893. By that time, the building had been converted to commercial use, serving as a hotel/boarding house under various names until 1943. It now houses a Community Health Center.