Historic Buildings of Connecticut

My latest video is about the block on the west side of Main Street from Trumbull Street to Ann Uccello Street. The section from Trumbull Street to Pleasant Street that’s being redeveloped was once home to many lost structures, including the one that was called the “Butt Ugly Building.” Other lost landmarks in the vicinity included an infamous hotel and a movie theater. More historic buildings survive in the section from Pleasant Street to High Street, including several “Perfect Sixes” and the Flatiron Building.

Check out my latest video: The section of Trumbull Street in Hartford, Connecticut, between Church Street and Main Street had its buildings demolished for mid-century redevelopment, first when Interstate 84 was built through the city, and then when a hotel and parking garage were erected just south of the highway. There were once four old hotels along this stretch of Trumbull street, as well as other landmarks of Hartford history that were lost.

My latest video is about the forgotten history of the block of Asylum Street in Hartford where Black-Eyed Sally’s is located today. Did you know that grand Mansard-roofed buildings once stood here, or that Mark Twain’s bookbinder, what was once Hartford’s grandest hotel, one of the city’s oldest bakeries and a building erected by the founder of Travelers insurance were all once to be found here as well? Please watch my video to find out more about them!

My latest video is about the block of Asylum Street in downtown Hartford between Ann and Ford Streets. This was once the location of the beloved restaurants Gionfriddo’s and Adajian’s. Find out more about the history of this block and the many lost buildings and businesses that once existed here, like the old house that blocked Ann Street for over 80 years, a church that was turned into a movie theater, and a meat and fish market that flourished for 70 years!

This video is about the forgotten history of Ford Street, which is across from Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut. Now a parking lot, it is remembered as the site of the old Statler-Hilton Hotel, which was demolished in 1990. But before the hotel was built in the early 1950s, there had been many other buildings here, including one where the city’s first Black labor union formed.

My latest video is about the block of Asylum Street in Hartford between High Street and Union Place. What used to be here before the current two buildings (the Hollander, originally the Capitol National bank, built in 1926, and the Capital Hotel, originally the Shoreham Motor Hotel, built in 1960)? I go all the way back to the 1860s to cover the history of this block, which is right across from the northwest section of Bushnell Park. I also have a new Substack post in which I go into greater detail about an 1899 fire that I mention in the video.