Historic Buildings of Connecticut - Exploring the Nutmeg State One Building at a Time

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)

St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Hartford

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.

Fire Station 2, Waterbury (1922)

Dating to 1922, Fire Station 2 of the Waterbury Fire Department is home to Truck 3 and Engine 2. The station is located at 519 E. Main Street.

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.

Samuel M. Darby House (1842)

Samuel M. Darby built the house at 57 Maple Street in Ellington in 1842. In 1861, he sold the property to John H. Throk, who sold it to Edward W. Barber in 1869. It remained in the Barber family, passing from Edward to his widow, and then to his daughter Fannie Barber.

Adath Israel Synagogue (1929)

Congregation Adath Israel was organized in 1902. A two-story building in Portland was purchased in 1908 and converted into a synagogue. The current synagogue, at 48 Church Street in Middletown, was built in 1929. In the 1940s, the congregation changed from its original Orthodoxy when the Charter was changed to Conservative.

Timothy Higgins House (1828)

(Update: above is a new picture of the house taken on July 10, 2014). The Timothy Higgins House in Plantsville in Southington is a Greek Revival residence built in 1828. Deacon Timothy Higgins (1800-1887) was born in Wolcott. He came to Southington and started a tannery on Prospect Street, on Eight Mile River. According to Chapter Sketches: Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution; Patriots’ Daughters (1904):

Jennette Carter was born in Southington September 5, 1803, the third child in a family of five. She was married to Timothy Higgins November 4, 1824, and became the mother of eleven children, only three of whom are now living. Nearly ten years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins became members of the Congregational Church in Southington. Forty years later their church membership in Southington was transferred to the church in Plantsville.

Edward Twichell, the father of Rev. Joseph Twichell, the friend of Mark Twain, was Higgins’ apprentice and later business partner. (more…)