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

Rev. William Thompson House (1847)

Built in 1847, on Main Street in East Windsor Hill, by the Theological Institute of Connecticut as a residence for its Chair of Biblical Literature, Rev. William Thompson. The Institute sold the home to Rev. Thompson when it moved to Hartford in 1865 (it is now known as the Hartford Theological Seminary). Rev. Thompson came from Goshen and, according to Williston Walker’s A History of the Congregational Churches in the United States (1894), his “connection with the seminary lasted till his death, in 1889, and to his wisdom, patience, self-denial, and teaching skill, whatever success the institution has had is chiefly due.”

The John Gaylord House (1772)

Located on Palisado Avenue in Windsor, the John Gaylord House was built in 1772. John Gaylord‘s ancestors were French Huguenots who had emigrated to England in the 1550s. The Gaylord family was one of the first to settle in Windsor.

Travelers Insurance Company (1928) and Hartford-Connecticut Trust Company (1920)

Two 1920s Colonial Revival skyscrapers, on Central Row in Hartford, across from the Old State House, exemplify an architectural style based on the classical column, with the upper stories corresponding to a column’s capital. The classical detailing on both buildings link them stylistically to the nearby Old State House.

The Hartford-Connecticut Trust Company Building (on the Right), designed by the firm of Morris & O’Connor, was built in 1920. The company was created in 1919 as a merger of the Connecticut Trust and Safe Deposit Company and the Hartford Trust Company. In 1954, it merged with Phoenix Bank to become Connecticut Bank and Trust Company. The structure on the roof, which looks like a classical building itself, once contained a restaurant. The Travelers Insurance Company Building (on the Left) was built in 1928 along similar lines.

Aaron Grant, Jr. House (1786)

Built in 1786, on Main Street in East Windsor Hill (now in South Windsor) by Aaron Grant, Jr., a carpenter who served in the Revolutionary War. His father, the senior Aaron Grant, had worked on the Ebeneezer Grant House. In 1835, the house was purchased by Joshua Risley, a wagon-maker. He added the second floor to what was originally a one-story gambrel-roofed building. A Greek Revival doorway was also added.

Berlin Hotel (1814)

Built in 1814, on Worthington Ridge in Berlin, at what was once known as Boston Corners, the Berlin Hotel was a tavern on the Boston Post Road kept by Benjamin Galpin. Horses would be changed here and one room housed the post office. The hotel closed in 1862.

The Welles-Shipman-Ward House (1755)

Built in 1755 on Main Street in South Glastonbury by the shipbuilder, Col. Thomas Welles for his son, John Welles and his wife, Jerusha Edwards Welles. The Welles family owned the house until 1789, when losses on three privateers built during the Revolutionary War forced them to sell it to two creditors, Stephen Shipman, Jr. and Nathaniel Talcott, Jr. Shipman eventually bought the entire property and added neoclassical, Federal-style features. His family owned the house for over a century. In 1925, it was purchased by Berdena Hart Ward, who restored the home and gave it to the Historical Society of Glastonbury in 1962. It is currently open for tours as the Welles-Shipman-Ward House Museum.

Porter-Belden House (1755)

Dr. Ezekiel Porter bought a lot off Main Street in Wethersfield in 1743 and sometime, from the 1750s to the 1770s, he built the house that stands there today, possibly for his daughter Abigail and her husband, the merchant Thomas Belden. Their son, Ezekiel Porter Belden, served as an officer in the Dragoons during the Revolutionary War. Later, the Porter-Belden house was the home of Mary Belden and her husband, Frederick Butler, who authored the first Complete History of the United States of America (1821). Their son, Thomas Belden Butler, served as Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. Early in the twentieth century, the house was made into a multi-family structure. The paneling from two rooms, as well some of the family furniture, are now in the Brooklyn Museum.

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