Simsbury Town Hall (1907)

The building which now serves as Simsbury’s third Town Hall was built in 1907 as Simsbury High School. The building’s design, by Edward Hapgood of Hartford, is believed to follow that of Homerton College, Cambridge University. When the high school, moved to a new building in the 1960s, the old building became Horace Belden Elementary School. It was renovated in 1993-1994 to become Simsbury Town Hall.

Governor Thomas M. Waller House (1846)

Next to the William Albertson House, on Vauxhall Street in New London, is a Greek Revival house built by Thomas Fitch in 1846. Fitch was a developer who laid out streets and sold house lots in the Post Hill area of New London. In 1862, Fitch sold his house to Hiram Willey, who served as mayor of New London from 1862 to 1865. Willey sold the property in 1875 to Thomas M. Waller, who also served as mayor (1873-1879) and later as Governor of Connecticut (1883-1884). While Waller owned the house, the front door facing Channing Street was moved to face Vauxhall Street. Further alterations (in the Colonial Revival style) were made to the house in 1913 by Waller’s son, Charles B. Waller.

Christ Church, New Haven (1898)

Christ Church in New Haven is an Episcopal Church founded in 1854 as a mission of Trinity Church. While Trinity Church is located in the center of town on New Haven Green, the first Christ Church was erected on the edge of town, in an area called Poverty Square near the almshouse and the town farm. Christ Church became a parish in 1856 and today continues the Anglo-Catholic worship and dedication to the city’s poor and dispossessed that have been hallmarks of the parish since its founding. The parish’s current Gothic church, at 84 Broadway, was built in 1898. It was designed by Henry Vaughan and the interior has intricate mahogany carvings by the Bavarian-born sculptor Johannes Kirchmayer. The church‘s stone tower is modeled on that of Magdalen College, Oxford. (more…)

District #1 School House, Bethlehem (1865)

On Main Street, across from the Green in Bethlehem, is the former District #1 Schoolhouse, also known as the Center School. One of nine district schools in town, it was built in 1865 (or perhaps in 1832?) and later, after the district schools were consolidated in 1914, served for many years as the town library. It was then used by the Episcopal Church for their summer fair and other events. The building was moved south to its present location in 1912 when Memorial Hall was built next door. Restored by the Old Bethlem Historical Society, the school is now a museum.

Abraham Pierson School (1932)

The Abraham Pierson School is a Colonial Revival-style elementary school located at 75 East Main Street in the center of Clinton. The school is named for Abraham Pierson, who was pastor of Clinton’s Congregational Church and, from 1701-1707, was the first rector of the Collegiate School, which later became Yale University. The Pierson School was built in 1932 on the original site (or next to the site) of the Morgan School, a private school founded in 1870 by Charles Morgan, a New York businessman and Clinton native. On the grounds of the school are statues of Pierson and Morgan, both sculpted in 1874 by Launt Thompson.

144 Broad Street, Middletown (1902)

This is the 50th post for Middletown on Historic Buildings of Connecticut! The house at 144 Broad Street in Middletown was built in 1902-1903 as the Rectory of the Church of the Holy Trinity, located on an adjoining lot on Main Street. The first occupant of the house was Reverend Edward Campion Acheson, the church’s eighteenth rector, who was later the Episcopal Bishop of Connecticut. His son, Dean Acheson, later served as U.S. Secretary of State in the Truman administration. The house, designed by H. Hilliard Smith in the Colonial Revival style, was later converted into elderly residential apartments run by St. Luke’s Eldercare Services.