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

John M. Davies House (1868)

When it was completed, on Prospect Street in New Haven in 1868, the John M. Davies House was the largest house in the city. It was designed by Henry Austin (with David R. Brown) for Davies, who owned a shirt-manufacturing company with Oliver Winchester, before the latter became famous for manufacturing firearms. The irregularly laid-out French Second Empire-style house lies on rising ground fronted by a wide lawn, creating a dramatic composition. In 1947, the house was purchased by a New Haven cooking school that would become the Culinary Institute of America. In 1964, while still owned by the Institute, it was the subject of a HABS study. In 1972, the house (now renamed the Betts House) was purchased by Yale University and remained unused for many years. Damaged by a fire in 1990, the house was restored in 2000-2002 and now serves as the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

Trinity Episcopal Church, New Haven (1814)

Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green, located just southwest of Center Church, is the third church comprising New Haven Green‘s carefully laid out plan of the Federal Period. At the time of its construction (1813-1814), Trinity Church, designed by Ithiel Town, was the most unusual of the three, as it was one of the very first three Gothic-style buildings in the United States. Town’s design has been significantly altered over the years, with the original wooden upper section of the tower being replaced by the current stone structure (and a pyramid, removed in 1930). Other changes include the addition of a chancel in 1884, by Henry Congdon. Town also designed Hartford’s first Gothic Episcopal church, which is now Chist Church Cathedral.

United Church on the Green (1815)

United Church on the Green, located on New Haven Green just northeast of First Church, was built 1812-1815. The Congregation dates back to the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century. In 1796, two congregations united: the White Haven church (formed in 1742) and the Fair Haven church (formed 1769). Their church building, originally known as North Church, was designed by Ebenezer Johnson, a member of the church committee, who made reference to the design of All Saints Church in Southampton, England (designed by C. L. Stieglitz; built 1792-5; destroyed 1940) as featured in a French architectural book. North Church was built by the noted Connecticut architect, David Hoadley. In 1849, the interior was totally remodeled by Sidney Mason Stone. In 1884, North Church joined with Third Church to form United Church. Both congregations had been involved with abolitionism: Third Church’s Simeon Jocelyn was a founding member of the Amistad Committee and North Church’s Roger Sherman Baldwin was a lawyer who defended the Amistad African’s rights.

First Congregational Church, New Haven (1814)

Now that April Fools Day is over, the rest of April will be New Haven Month at Historic Buildings of CT. First up is New Haven’s First Congregational Church, also called Center Church on-the-Green, due to its central location, between two other churches, on New Haven Green. The city’s congregation goes back to the founding of the New Haven colony in 1838. The new town was carefully planned out by the settlers in what is known as the “Nine Square Plan,” with New Haven Green at the center. Four successive Meeting Houses were constructed on the Green: the first in 1640, the second in 1669 and the third in 1757. The fourth and current church was built, in the Federal style, between 1812-1814. Designed by Asher Benjamin, who sent the plans from Boston, the church was built by the then unknown Ithiel Town, who may have added some of his own elements to the design. The building was one of many in America modeled on St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. The interior was remodeled by Henry Austin in 1842. Center Church is also famous for having been partly constructed over the town’s old Colonial burying ground, remains of which can be found in the church’s Crypt.

Eliakim Cook House (1790)

Eliakim Cook of East Windsor Hill (now in South Windsor) bought a house on Old Main Street in 1738 that had been built by Matthew Grant in 1710. Eliakim died in 1776 and in 1778 the house was rented to Dr. Primus Manumit. Formerly a slave belonging to Dr. Alexander Wolcott of Windsor, Primus was released from bondage and took the Latin word “Manumit” as his surname Having assisted Dr. Wolcott over the years in preparing medicines for the sick, he moved to East Windsor and worked as a doctor until his death in 1787. The old Eliakim Cook house was removed around 1790 when Cook’s grandson, also named Eliakim, built the current house on the lot. Not long after it was built, Eliakim sold it to his brother, Benjamin Cook, Jr. Note: This post was written on 09/02/2011 and backdated so that there would be a regular post for 04/01/2008 as well as an April Fool’s Post.

Gridley-Case Cottages (1771)

The Gridley and Case Cottages, on Main Street in Farmington, were constructed in the late eighteenth century and are rare surviving examples of modest workmen’s cottages. The two cottages were built sometime after 1771, when John Case purchased the land. Case himself lived in his homestead nearby and workmen occupied the cottages. At some point, Alexander Gridley started living in the smaller of the two, which he sold it to John’s son, Coral Case, in 1797. It was then used as a hat shop by Coral, who died in 1800. Many people owned or lived in the cottages over the years, until they were sold, in 1970, to James McArthur Thomson, who was living in the Gen. George Cowles House. He worked to preserve the cottages, which were left to the town at his death in 1993 and were eventually donated to the Farmington Historical Society in 1998. The society’s offices are now in the larger cottage, while the smaller cottage is rented out as a residence.

Abel Lewis Tavern (1794)

Completed in 1794, the tavern operated by Abel Lewis and his wife, Ruth, on Maple Street in Bristol, served patrons into the nineteenth century and was the venue for public dances. Abel and Ruth were the parents of Miles Lewis, who lived nearby. In 1890, the property was purchased by the Bristol Builder Joel T. Case, who Victorianized the house, adding a roof dormer, porches and decorative trim and siding.