Hotel Arrigoni (1914)

At 601-607 Main Street in Middletown stands an impressive five-story Colonial Revival structure, built of granite, brick and concrete block. Now serving as low income housing, it was built in 1914-1915 as the Hotel Arrigoni by Frank Arrigoni, a prominent local building contractor. He and his brother, Dionigi Arrigoni, immigrants from Italy, owned the hotel and established Arrigoni & Brother, a road construction company that built many miles of highway in Connecticut. The hotel was run by the Arrigoni family until 1963. The building, later known as the the March Inn and then the Arriwani Hotel, was converted it into a rooming house. In 1995-1996, it was converted into Liberty Commons (pdf), the first supportive housing program in the state. The building also houses The Buttonwood Tree, a nonprofit performing arts and cultural center. (more…)

Robert B. Weiss Center (1931)

The Robert B. Weiss Center at 479 Main Street in Manchester is home to the town’s Human Services Department. The large Colonial and Classical Revival building was built in 1931-1932 as the Manchester Main U.S. Post Office. It was designed under James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury Department, and was well planned for a difficult corner site with a substantial slope. The structure was built by the Pieretti Brothers of Centerbrook. The U.S. Postal Service moved from the building in 1991 and the town bought it for use as offices. It was given its current name in 1994 in honor of Robert B. Weiss, who served 23 years as town manager.

Thomaston Railway Station (1881)

The Thomaston Railway Station, built in 1881, was part of the Naugatuck Railroad which began operations in September of 1849. The building served as a railway station until 1958, but then suffered from years of neglect and an arson fire in 1993. Since 1999, the station has been the home base of the Railroad Museum of New England, which now operates the Naugatuck Railroad, a scenic train ride between Waterville and Thomaston.

Albert S. Wells House (1903)

The impressive Colonial Revival house at 893 Clinton Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1903 for Albert S. Wells, general superintendent of the Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company. In 2010, Bridgeport’s Zoning Board of Appeals rejected a proposal to establish a group home for homeless women veterans in the Wells House. Local residents had been fighting to preserve the residential character of their neighborhood.

Erastus Brainerd, Jr. House (1852)

This is my 2,000 building post on Historic Buildings of Connecticut! Part of the purpose of this blog is to celebrate historic structures so that people won’t be inclined to tear them down. Sometimes, however, great buildings are not maintained and some are in danger of being destroyed. A case in point is the Erastus Brainerd, Jr. House, part of the campus of the former Elmcrest Hospital in Portland, which is slated for demolition. Erastus Brainerd Jr.‘s father established the Brainerd Quarry Company in Portland and owned the Hart/Jarvis House next door (also facing demolition) [see this pdf and this pdf]. The Brainerd House, built around 1852, is particularly notable because it was designed by the great New Haven architect Henry Austin. Pictured in the image above is the house’s grand front entry porch, which has fluted columns on floral urns with ogee arched decorative brackets supporting a balustraded roof. These houses should be saved! (Note this pdf and this pdf)