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

The William Jillson House (1826)

In 1826, Asa Jillson and his brother, Seth, from Rhode Island, arrived in the Borough of Willimantic in the Town of Windham, where they became industrial pioneers, setting up mills and building a stone house, built of gneiss granite quarried from the Willimantic River. Asa’s son, “Colonel” William Lawrence Jillson, had arrived with his father and eventually became the agent for his father and uncle’s textile manufacturing firm, the A. & S. Jillson Company. William L. Jillson worked with the machinist Ames Burr Palmer to invent the Jillson and Palmer cotton opener, which came to be used throughout the country. Jillson founded other textile factories and, when he died in 1861, control of his companies passed to his son, William Curtis Jillson, who became one of Willimantic’s most prominent citizens. By the 1970s, the stone Jillson House had fallen into disrepair. It was restored and became the home of the Windham Historical Society.

William Hart House (1767)

Located next to the First Congregational Church in Old Saybrook is the 1767 house of General William Hart, which is now the headquarters of the Old Saybrook Historical Society. Hart was a merchant engaged in the West Indies trade with his brother, Joseph. During the Revolutionary War, he outfitted privateers and led the First Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse Militia to Danbury, when that town was raided by the Brittish under Brig. Gen. William Tryon in 1777.

The Zebulon Stanton House (1786)

The Zebulon Stanton House, 83 Main Street in Stonington Borough, was built around 1786. Zebulon Stanton was a silversmith and used the south ell on the right of his house, built in the 1790s, as his silver shop. Zebulon had earlier been in partnership with his brothers, Daniel and Enoch, both of whom had been killed in the defense of Fort Griswold in 1781.

Ingalls Hockey Rink (1957)

The Ingalls Hockey Rink at Yale, designed by Eero Saarinen and built in 1957, is constructed of concrete with a suspended aluminum roof. The building is significant for inaugurating a period of modern architecture construction in New Haven. Ingalls Hockey Rink has also been used for public meetings and two two bombs were set off in the basement on May Day, 1970, during the New Haven Black Panther Trials, The building, also known as the “Yale Whale,” has recently undergone extensive renovations. Here is a video of the interior: (more…)

Elizabeth Apthorp House (1837)

In 1838, Elizabeth Apthorp moved from her first home on New Haven’s Hillhouse Avenue, which she had been sharing with her half-sister, Abigail Whelpley, to another one nearby, again arranged by James Hillhouse and newly completed the year before. The Apthorp House was designed by A.J. Davis. He described the house as an Etruscan Villa, although its overall shape conformed to the Greek Revival style and the original focus of the facade was an Egyptian Revival porch. The building has been constantly added to over the years with new and reused elements in a variety of styles. In the early twentieth century, the house was occupied by the family of former Yale president Timothy Dwight. It is now owned by Yale and is one of the buildings housing the Yale School of Management. It was renovated in 2001.

576 Chapel Street, New Haven (1935)

The Art Deco building at 576 Chapel Street in New Haven actually goes back to 1841-1842, when it was built as a Greek Revival mansion for Henry Lucius Hotchkiss, a manufacturer and president of the L. Candee Rubber Company and other corporations. A third floor was added in 1863 and in 1935 the entire exterior of the building was redone by architect Lester Julianelle.

Kensington Congregational Church (1774)

The Second Church of Farmington was gathered in 1712, in what is now the Town of Berlin. The first meeting house was located on the road that came to be called “Christian Lane.” The congregation was officially given the name of Kensington in 1722. A new and larger meeting house was built around 1733 a mile south of the first one. The congregational society was divided in 1754 with the creation of new society in New Britain. The original society was again divided between east and west sections in 1772. The west section retained the name Kensington, the east was known as Worthington. Both societies continued to share the old meeting house until the separate Worthington church was completed in 1774. The Kensington Society then built its own new church, over a mile west of the old one, which was dedicated on December 1, 1774. The two communities of Kensington and Worthington later joined in 1785 to form the Town of Berlin (New Britain remained a part of Berlin until 1850). Over the years, the Kensington Congregational Church has been expanded to the rear and adapted in the Greek Revival style.