Cathedral Lyceum (1895)

The Cathedral Lyceum (pdf) in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood was built in 1895 by the Archdiocese of Hartford for the Cathedral Lyceum Society, a catholic club for young Irish men. Located at 227 Lawrence Street, the Renaissance Revival building, designed by John J. Dwyer, served for many years as a community center for the city’s growing immigrant population. The church sold the building in 1920 to the Hartford Box Company. The structure later served as as the home of the Lithuanian-American Citizens Club. It has since been a restaurant, a dance club, a roller skating business and a balloon manufacturer. In 2003 it was purchased by the Melville Charitable Trust, an organization dedicated to promoting affordable housing, and was renovated to become the Lyceum Conference Center.

William H. Cadwell House (1891)

William H. Cadwell (1863-1941) was New Britain’s leading architect in the nineteenth century. In 1890-1891, he designed and built his own house, at 130 West Main Street in New Britain, as a gift for his new bridge, Frances Hadley (1871-1958). The ornate Cadwell House is a Chateauesque residence constructed of yellow brick, limestone and Portland brownstone with terra cotta ornamentation and slate roofs. The house is now home to the law firm of Camp, Williams, and Richardson.

Knesseth Israel Synagogue (1913)

Knesseth Israel Synagogue

Knesseth Israel Synagogue was built in Ellington in 1913 by Congregation Knesseth Israel [“The Gathering of Israel”], an Orthodox congregation of Jewish farm families. The shul was designed in the Colonial Revival style by Leon Dobkin and was built partly with funds from the Jewish Colonization Association. Founded by Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a wealthy German-Jewish philanthropist, the JCA encouraged Orthodox Eastern European Jews to become farmers. Knesseth Israel Synagogue was moved in 1954 from its original location, at the corner of Abbott and Middle roads, to its current address at 226 Pinney Street.

St. Patrick’s Church, Bridgeport (1913)

The first Catholic church to be built in the North End of Bridgeport was St. Patrick’s Church. It began with a basement church designed by James Murphy of Providence, RI. The cornerstone for the Upper Church, designed by Dwyer and McMahon of Hartford, was laid in 1910 and the Dedication Mass for the completed edifice was offered in November of 1913 (see pdf, page 4). St. Patrick’s Parish merged with St. Augustine’s Parish in 2011 to form the new Cathedral Parish.

Middletown Savings Bank (1928)

The building at 315 Main Street in Middletown was built in 1928 by the Middletown Savings Bank. Established in 1825, the bank was first located in Samuel Southmayd’s pharmacy on the corner of Main and William Streets. From 1838 to 1837, the bank was located in its own building, the Old Banking House Block at 319-323 Main Street, next door to the future site of their 1929 building. The bank then moved into a new building further south on Main Street and finally into their new Neoclassical structure at 315 Main Street. The Middletown Savings Bank became Liberty Bank in 1975.

Meriden Main Post Office (1909)

The United States Post Office at 89 North Colony Street in Meriden, which has a dressed limestone facade embellished with classical ornamentation, is a notable example of Beaux Arts architecture. It was built by by James Knox Taylor, who was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. Also known as the Meriden Main Post Office, the building was designed in 1907 by and was constructed in 1909 as one of only twelve post offices built that year by the U.S. Government. An addition to the post office, designed under the supervision of James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury, was completed in 1932.