Cathedral of Saint Joseph (1962)

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The original Gothic-style St. Joseph’s Cathedral of 1892, built on Farmington Avenue in Hartford and designed by Patrick Keely, burned in 1956. Although the exterior survived, it was decided to completely rebuild in a modern Gothic style utilizing a structure of reinforced concrete and an exterior covering of limestone. The cathedral is notable for the massive frieze over the entrance, featuring St. Joseph, its stained glass windows, made in France, and the ceramic tile mural, located behind the altar, of “Christ in Glory,” which is the largest in the world.

John Chester Tavern (South Half) (1735)

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The Tavern of John Chester on Broad Street in Wethersfield was built in the 1730s. In 1765, the Connecticut Sons of Liberty, reacting to the Stamp Act, intercepted the Stamp Master Jared Ingersoll below Wethersfield to prevent his reaching Hartford. This may have been the tavern in which Ingersoll took refuge before eventually being forced to resign his office. John Chester was an officer in the militia that went to fight at Lexington. He became a colonel in 1776 and served throughout the Revolutionary War. His house stood further south on Broad Street, on the other side of the Broad Street Green. It survived to 1869. Chester’s grandchildren split the tavern building, moving the north half to nearby Garden Street in Wethersfield.

Armsmear (1857)

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Built in 1857 on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford for Samuel Colt, Armsmear has been called “the grandest residence in the Hartford of its day.” Often attributed to the architect Octavius Jordan, it is an elaborate Italian Villa. It has been much altered from its original opulence, having lost such features as an ornate dome with an ogee shape, similar to that on the Colt Armory in Hartford. Also lost are the glass-domed conservatories, added in 1861-2 and inspired by London’s Crystal Palace. The mansion still features three towers, and Bill Hosley describes, in the Hog River Journal, convincing the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum to approve an exhibition on Colt’s Empire by showing him the view of Coltsville from the Armsmear’s main tower. Hosley describes the tower as “one of the most alluring historic spaces in Connecticut.”

After the death of Elizabeth Colt, the house was altered, according to her will, by Benjamin Wistar Morris to became a residence for the widows of Episcopalian ministers. 140 acres of the Colt estate were also given to the city of Hartford to create Colt Park. Today Armsmear is described as a “51 unit apartment complex for retired single women.”