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

Thomas-Bradstreet House (1838)

Born in Wolcott in 1785, Seth Thomas first worked in the clock business under Eli Terry and later purchased Terry’s clock-making business in 1810. Thomas moved to Plymouth Hollow (later named Thomaston in his honor) in 1813 and founded the famous Seth Thomas Clock Company, which continued in business until the 1980s. In 1838, Seth Thomas purchased the house at 237 Main Street in Thomaston from Marvin Blakeslee. It had probably been built in about 1825 and is the only remaining of the five houses owned by the Thomas family on Main Street. In 1850, Thomas sold it to his daughter, Amanda Thomas Bradstreet, whose husband, Thomas Jefferson Bradstreet, was a descendant of the Puritan poet, Anne Bradstreet. The house remained in the family until the death of Miss Edith Bradstreet Mather in 2004. The following year, the Town of Thomaston bought the property from her surviving sister, Clara-Louise Mather Riggs. The Thomas-Bradstreet House, restored by the Thomaston Historical Commission, is now a house museum open to the public.

Harmon Merriman House (1793)

The house at 1084 Marion Avenue in Southington was built in 1793 but has later Italianate ad Stick Style additions. The house was built for Harmon Merriman and was later the home of Levi D. Frost, whose father, Levi B. Frost, and brothers lived nearby. (more…)

Rockwell-Sumner House (1721)

Happy Fourth of July!!! The house at 21 Pleasant Street in Middletown was built around 1728 (some sources say 1750) by Joseph Rockwell and remained in the Rockwell family until 1782. After passing through other owners, the house was purchased by John Sumner in 1825 and was in the Sumner family for over a century. It was later acquired by the South Congregational Church.

Samuel Clark House (1840)

The Samuel Clark House is an interesting Greek Revival residence with a pyramidal roof. The house and neighboring barn were built around 1840 and can be found at 67 West Street in the Plantsville section of Southington.

Stueck’s Modern Tavern (1914)

In 1893, Jacob Stueck built the commercial structure at 460 Main Street in Middletown, which housed his bakery. In 1914, his son, Philip Stueck, built an attached structure at 62-70 Washington Street. Philip operated a restaurant on the upper level, called Stueck’s Modern Tavern, and rented out the first floor to various retail shops. The restaurant remained in business until 1939. The Renaissance Revival building, which features bold notched brick-work, was sold to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1946.

Beacon Falls Congregational Church (1871)

The Beacon Falls Congregational Church was originally a Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1846. The first church building was built next to what is now Pines Bridge Cemetery. A small meeting house, it burned in a fire. After 1850, the church moved to another small building on Main Street, near Lebanon Brook. That structure later became an American Legion Hall and is now Beacon Falls Pizza. The current church on Wolfe Avenue, built on land donated by the Home Wollen Mill, was completed in 1871 and dedicated on January 11, 1872. The church became Congregational in 1919. A member of The United Church of Christ from 1957 to 2005, the Beacon Falls Congregational Church is now an independent Congregational Church.

Edinburgh Crescent (1889)

Edinburgh Crescent, at 431-449 Washington Avenue in Bridgeport, is a row house block built in 1889. The Richardsonian Romanesque building was constructed by developers Edwin G. Sanford and Mrs. Lucien W. Shephers and was designed by architects Longstaff & Hurd, who also designed the building which is now the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport. In the 1990s, the dilapidated Edinburgh Crescent was converted to serve as low income housing.