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

Cheney Hall (1866)

The Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company flourished in Manchester in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Nineteenth century mill village complexs, which included housing for workers, also featured entertainment venues for the community. Built in 1866, as a theater and cultural center, Cheney Hall was designed by the Boston artist and architect C. H. Hammatt Billings, who had also created the original illustrations for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Over the years , audiences at Cheney Hall would see theatrical performances, boxing matches, high school graduations, and many famous speakers, including Horace Greeley (who had dedicated the building in 1867), Mark Twain, Susan B. Anthony, Henry Ward Beecher, Grover Cleveland and William H. Taft. The building was used as a hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic. Used as a fabric salesroom from 1925 to 1976, the building was then in bad condition, but was saved from demolition when the Cheney Brothers National Historic Landmark District was created in 1978. Restored in 1991, Cheney Hall today hosts performances of the Little Theatre of Manchester and is available for rentals.

David Wright House (1791)

Built by Josiah Wright Jr. for his son, David Wright, on Main Street in Wethersfield around 1791. David Wright was a brother of Capt. Ashbel Wright, whose house had already been built right next door, to the north.

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The Oliver H. Easton House (1869)

An excellent example of the Second Empire style, the 1869 Hartford home of Oliver H. Easton, an architect and builder, features a colorful mansard roof and a tower, both with elaborate dormers. The house is located on Fairfield Avenue, where many affluent families built homes in the years after the Civil War.

Philip Goffe House (1655)

The oldest house is Rocky Hill is the Philip Goffe House on Old Main Street. It was built in 1655, when Rocky Hill was part of Wethersfield. Philip Goffe was Wethersfield’s first town crier.

Matthew Sadd, Jr. House (1781)

Located on Main Street, across from the Timothy Edwards Cemetery, in the East Windsor Hill Historic District of South Windsor, is a small house on a knoll. Its construction was begun by Matthew Sadd Jr. (son of Matthew Sadd the carpenter), who purchased the land in 1781. It was completed by a later owner, Samuel Terry, Jr., a brother of the clockmaker Eli Terry. The house has undergone extensive renovations, including the complete rebuilding of the old center chimney.

Capt. Ashbel Wright House (1766)

Originally built for the father or brother of Capt. Ashbel Wright on Main Street in Wethersfield in 1766. Wright, a sea captain, was later a militiaman in the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Bunker Hill. From 1824 to 1833, the house was the home of Reverend Joseph Emerson, who ran the Female Seminary, located in the Old Academy across the street.

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The William A. Lovell House (1780)

Currently located on North Meadow Road in Windsor, the 1780 William A. Lovell House was moved from the area of Hayden Station by Capt. Nathaniel Howard in 1807.