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

Calhoun-Hollister-Anson-Solley House (1866)

Simeon Calhoun built two octagon houses in the town of Washington during the Civil War period. One was erected for Treat Nettleton on Nettleton Hollow Road and the other (pictured above) was built on at 142 Judea Cemetery Road in about 1866. The house was purchased by the Hollister family in 1881. They gave their name to the farm on the property called Holliecroft. Harold B. Anson (brother of James A. Anson), who had a painting company, bought the house in 1941. The Solley family bought the house from Anson in 1950. They operated Holliecroft as a dairy farm until 1960 and then focused on growing crops. The house was owned by Nancy F. Solley for many years

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Salem Evangelical Covenant Church (1889)

Former Salem Covenant Congregational Church, Washington CT

Swedish immigrants in the town of Washington began work on a church adjacent to the bridge over the Shepaug River in the Washington Depot section of town in 1888 and it was dedicated on the Sunday before Christmas 1889. Originally known as the Swedish branch of the Congregational Church in Washington, the congregation split off on its own in 1892 to become the Salem Evangelical Covenant Church. That same year, other Swedish immigrants erected Trinity Lutheran Church just across the street. The Salem Covenant Church congregation relocated to a new church at 96 Baldwin Hill Road in 1977 and the old church building is now a private home.

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Samuel Nettleton House (1814)

Daniel Nettleton (1766-1829) and his wife Eunice Baldwin Nettleton came from Milford in about 1789 and settled in the town of Washington in an area that came to be called Nettleton Hollow. Across from the original Nettleton homestead, their son Samuel (1791-1852) built the house at 230 Nettleton Hollow Road in in 1814. He moved into the new house while his parents and his brother, Lyman Nettleton, remained in the old homestead, which stood until it was taken down in 1867 by Samuel’s nephew, Treat Nettleton, who moved into an octagon house built for him nearby. The Samuel Nettleton House remained in the family for well over a century and a half.

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New Video: The Crows of Washington Street, Hartford

This video is about crows that roosted on Washington Street in Hartford 120 years ago near the now lost home Colonel Charles A. Jewell. Four years later he had lot of crocuses on his lawn.

New Video: Central Row in Hartford, CT

This video looks at buildings along Central Row, the street just south of the Old State House in Hartford, Connecticut. Long gone structures include the Ellsworth Block, where the Marble Pillar restaurant had its origins in 1860, the Marble Block (Hartford’s second Marble-front building), the Universalist Church of 1824, the Hartford Museum, and the Hungerford & Cone Building, once home to many of Hartford’s lawyers. Surviving structures are two skyscrapers: the 1921 Hartford-Connecticut Trust Company Building and the 1928 Travelers Building; and an 1850 brownstone building at 6 Central Row.

I want to also share a link to a picture I couldn’t use in the video because it’s owned by the Connecticut Historical Society. It shows the old Ellsworth Block after many alterations were made to have a hall, formerly for the Elks, but by the time of the photo for the Central Labor Union, also used by the Eagles (note the Eagle depicted on the building). Honiss Oyster House is in the building, which might be surprising because it’s across the street from their longtime location on the other side of the Old State House on State Street. The picture was taken in 1924, when Honiss had to briefly relocate because the old building on State Street was being replaced. Soon after this image was taken, the restaurant moved back across the street into the new building, but this photo captures a short period of time when two Hartford institutions, Honiss and the Marble Pillar, were right near each other!

http://hdl.handle.net/11134/40002:9960

New Video: The Allyn House Hotel

My latest video is about the Allyn House, a grand hotel that stood at the corner of Asylum and Trumbull Streets, where the Hartford 21 Building is today.

Winchester Center Old Academy (1841)

The building known as the Winchester Center Old Academy is thought to have been built in the eighteenth century, although town accessor’s records give it a construction date (at least in its current form) of 1841 (it certainly has a Greek Revival appearance today appropriate to that period). It was partly built on land provided by Rev. Frederick Marsh, who lived nearby in the Priest Marsh House. It was later acquired by the Winchester Center Ecclesiastical Society and used for winter services, which is why it is also known as the Chapel. The building was renovated in 1910 and in 1971 became the home of the Winchester Center Historical Association.