William Wallace Block (1857)

The name William Wallace conjures up images of the movie Braveheart. Wallingford also had a William Wallace, and a building downtown is named for him. Not the Scottish patriot who fought Edward I of England, Wallingford’s Wallace was a real estate developer, possibly related to the Wallcaces who started the Wallace Silver Company. In the second half of the nineteenth century, North Main Street north of Center Street was being developed as a commercial center. The William Wallace Block, at 33 North Main Street, was one of the first of the new commercial buildings to be constructed there in 1857. The Italianate structure is impressively large for its early date. It has high stoops and a high first floor allowing basement shop windows, a feature typically found in more urban areas at the time. It remains the largest commercial structure in the Wallingford Center Historic District today.

Orange Congregational Church (1810)

The first meetinghouse in North Milford, now Orange, was constructed on the north end of what is now Orange Center Green in 1792. At that time, residents of Orange were still members of the Milford Congregational Church, but a separate Ecclesiastical Society was eventually formed in 1804. The separate Town of Orange was incorporated in 1822. The current Orange Congregational Church, designed by David Hoadley, was built in 1810-1811.

Emanuel Synagogue (1927)

Formed in 1919, Emanuel Synagogue in Hartford was Connecticut’s first Conservative congregation. In 1920, members dedicated its first synagogue in the former North Methodist Church on Main Street. With a growing membership, the congregation purchased farmland on Woodland Street in Hartford’s Upper Albany neighborhood. A new synagogue, designed by Ebbets and Frid, was completed in 1927. Emanuel Synagogue’s cemetery is located on Jordan Lane in Wethersfield. By the 1950s, with many Emanuel members having moved to West Hartford, the synagogue purchased land on Mohegan Drive and built a social hall and religious school there in 1959. Services continued to be held at Woodland Street until 1968. A new Emanuel Synagogue was completed on Mohegan Drive in 1970. The former Hartford synagogue is now Faith Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Rev. Samuel Andrews House (1801)

The Rev. Samuel Andrews House, 124 North Street in Milford, has been dated on different occasions to as early as 1685 (too early) and as late as 1801 (probably too late). It is typical of early nineteenth-century houses in Milford and has a later Greek-Revival entry porch. The house is named for Rev. Samuel Andrew, who was the third pastor of the First Church of Milford and was an original trustee of Yale, serving as Rector pro tempore of the University from 1707 and 1719. The house also has an unverified D.A.R. plaque stating that the house was built by Governor Robert Treat for his daughter, Abigail Treat, the wife of Rev. Samuel Andrew.

John Johnson House (1750)

Located at 19 Maiden Lane in Durham, the John Johnson House, with its unusually non-symmetrical configuration, was associated with several important local stone carvers. It was built between 1743 and 1750 as a dwelling and stone-carving shop by Thomas Spelman and Noah Lyman. Spelman was a gravestone carver who sold his half of the partnership with Noah Lyman and moved to Granville, Massachusetts in the early 1850s. Noah Lyman sold to Elizabeth Austin in 1761 and she and her husband Jesse sold to John Johnson, Jr. in 1773. Johnson came from a family of stone carvers in Middletown and became a successful farmer in Durham and a deacon of the town’s Congregational church. A brownstone quarry was located on the south side of Maiden Lane, which may have been the source of the stone Johnson carved for the town’s cemeteries. Johnson and his wife Abigail had three unmarried daughters: Rhoda, Eunice, Nabby, Nancy and Almira. Every Sunday, they would walk to church in single file in order of their ages. In 1825, Johnson sold the house to his daughters, for whom Maiden Lane was named.

Anson J. Allen House (1834)

The house at 398 Main Street in the Pine Meadow section of New Hartford was built in 1834 as a Greek Revival house. Alterations in the Italianate style, including the addition of the front porch, were made around 1874. By that time, the house was owned by Anson J. Allen. With his brother, Samuel Allen, Anson owned a brass foundry begun by their brother Philemon. Selling the foundry in 1867, Samuel, as senior partner, and Anson operated a mercantile business in Pine Meadow. Samuel’s nearby Greek Revival house is at 405 Main Street. Anson J. Allen was born in Barkhamsted, educated at the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield (now Suffield Academy), and served in the state legislature. His house is now a bed & breakfast called the Pine Meadow House.