Drescher’s Cafe (1904)

For my 50th post for Waterbury, Historic Buildings of Connecticut features a local landmark. In 1894, J. Alfred Drescher, an immigrant from Zurich, Switzerland, and Frederick Keil, who came from Mannheim, Germany, purchased “Miller’s Saloon,” which had opened in 1868. Frederick Keil had previously married the daughter of the previous owner, Charlie Miller. When Drescher and Keil retired in 1912, Drescher’s son Alfred, who had married Frederick Keil’s daighter, ran the business under the name Drescher and Keck with his partner, Michael Keck. After Keck died in 1944, the restaurant was known as Drescher’s and was run by the family until 1957. It has since continued in business with other owners. In 1982, an urban renewal project threatened the Drescher building, built in 1903-1904. The building was saved when it was moved from its old location on Harrison Alley to its current address at 25 Leavenworth Street.

Thomaston Public Library (1901)

In 1880, the Laura Andrews Free Library and Benevolent Association was established in Thomaston with a gift from Seth E. Thomas, Jr. of New York in memory of his mother. A town library was established in 1898 and the Laura Andrews Free Library Association (as the Association had been renamed in 1882) loaned its library collection to the town. A building for the town library, designed by Griggs and Hunt, was constructed in 1900-1901 on land offered by Randall T. Andrews, a Thomas relative, worker at the Seth Thomas clock factory and an incorporator of the Laura Andrews Free Library Association. In 1906, Andrew Carnegie donated $1,700 to pay off the debt on the library building. In 1971, a new library building was constructed next to the old one. In the 1980s, the original Laura Andrews Library building was renovated as a children’s wing and connected to the 1971 structure.

Gerhard F. Drouve House (1914)

The house at 2137 North Avenue in Bridgeport was built in 1914 by Gerhard F. Drouve. As described in the History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, Volume 1 (1917):

The G. Drouve Company, 40 Tulip Street, are manufacturers of the Anti-Pluvius puttyless skylights. The firm was incorporated in May, 1896. The officers of this concern are: G. F. Drouve, president and treasurer; William V. Dee, secretary.

Drouve also manufactured various devices, including a “Straight-Push” sash operator and the Lovell Window and Shutter Operating Device.

St. Anne-Immaculate Conception Church (1926)

In October 1888, French Canadian Catholics in Hartford gathered to plan for their own ethnic parish in the city. St. Anne parish was established the following year. A wooden church was built in 1892-1893 on the corner of Park and Putnam Streets. A new church later replaced it, dedicated by Bishop John J. Nilan on July 11, 1926. The yellow brick Neo-Classical Revival church with asymmetrical towers was designed by Henry F. Ludorf, who also designed the Polish National Home in Hartford. In 2000, St. Anne parish merged with Immaculate Conception parish.

Andrews-Olney House (1800)

A battle is currently being waged in Southington over the fate of a c.1800 brick Federal-style house at 116-118 North Main Street. The YMCA next door has plans to demolish this historic structure to make way for a parking lot!!!

The house was built by Samuel Andrews, Sr., a veteran of the Revolutionary War. It is commonly called the Olney House for a later owner, Jesse Olney, an educator and author of influential geography books and atlases that were second only to Noah Webster’s spelling book in textbook sales in the nineteenth century. Olney also served in the state legislature for ten terms and was state comptroller for two years. The house once had a front porch that was later removed.

During the summer, local preservationists were involved in negotiations with the YMCA in an attempt to save the house. When the YMCA halted the talks and withdrew an offer to sell the house, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation sought an injunction, which was issued by a New Britain Superior Court judge in August preventing the demolition of the Olney House until Jauary 20. The Y does have permission to proceed with the destruction of the later addition to the rear of the house, an Italianate ell.

It is important that this house be preserved architecturally because it is Southington’s only example of a brick Federal house and historically because of its association with an important Connecticut educator and author.