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

Agudas Achim Synagogue, Hartford (1928)

Agudas Achim is a Orthodox Jewish congregation founded in Hartford in 1887 by immigrants from Romania. Meeting at first in private homes, the Congregation moved to a building on Market Street around 1902 and then to a larger synagogue on Greenfield Street, constructed in 1928. Like the similar Beth Hamedrash Hagodol on Garden Street, Agudas Achim (1928) was designed by the firm of Berenson & Moses. Following the movement of Jews out of Hartford’s Upper Albany neighborhood, the Congregation constructed a new synagogue on North Main Street in West Hartford in 1968. The 1928 building has since been a Baptist Church and is now the Glory Chapel International Cathedral.

Edward Curtis House (1745)

Around 1745, Edward Curtis began to build a house at what is now the southeast corner of Elm and Broad Streets in Stratford. It was completed by his nephew, Henry Curtis and remained in the Curtis family until 1981. The house has a tilt, believed to have been caused by two earthquakes, in 1747 and 1813.

The Griswold-Moseley House (1790)

Dating to around 1790, the Griswold-Moseley House, at 1936 Main Street in Glastonbury, was built by Thomas White Griswold, a farmer. In 1798, the Griswold family sold the house to Capt. Joseph Moseley and moved to upstate New York. The house remained in the Moseley family into the twentieth century.

Fellows-Haley House (1771)

The Fellows-Haley House is on Church Street in Stonington Borough. It was built in 1771 by William Fellows, a ship carpenter. The house had a number of different residents before it became the property of Joshua Haley, Jr. In 1886 he enlarged the house, completely transforming it from its original gambrel-roofed appearance, even adding a mansard roof to the rear.

Clark-Nichols House (1830)

The Clark-Nichols House is a Greek-Revival style half-house at 758 Monroe Turnpike in Monroe. It was built in the 1830s. A rear wing, since removed, once served as a school.

Old Middletown High School (1894)

The old Middletown High School was built in 1894-1896 on the southwest corner of Court and Pearl Streets. The Romanesque Revival-style building was designed by the Hartford architectural firm of Curtis and Johnson. Additional wings were added in 1912 and 1931. The 1912 addition matches well with the original structure, but the 1931 addition stands out more as a newer separate construction. The building served as a school until 1972, when a new high school was built. In 1979, the old school was sold to a developer and converted into apartments for elderly housing.

Central Baptist Church, Hartford (1926)

In this post I’m trying something new: many of the links embedded below point to articles from the Hartford Courant from the 1920s, available at iconn.org (for those with a Connecticut Library Card).

There were once two Baptist Churches on Main Street in Hartford. The First Baptist Church, originally located (from 1798 to 1831) at the corner Market and Temple Streets, moved to a second building on Main Street and finally to a third, at Main and Talcott Streets. The South Baptist Church had two edifices, the first built in the 1830s and the second, at Main and Elm, dating to 1854. In the 1920s, the two Baptist churches united to form the Central Baptist Church. Worship services continued at the First Baptist Church, while the former South Baptist Church was demolished and a new church built on the site for the combined Central Baptist congregation. While many other churches at the time had been moving to neighborhoods to the west, the Baptist Church, after considering such a move for financial reasons, decided to remain on Main Street. Ground was broken in 1924, the cornerstone was laid the following year and the completed church was dedicated in 1926. Designed by Isaac A. Allen, the church would contain a large auditorium and gymnasium.