North Guilford Congregational Church Parsonage (1824)

Now a private residence, the house at 145 Ledge Hill Road in Guilford was built in the early 1820s to serve as the parsonage of the North Guilford Congregational Church (an earlier parsonage was auctioned off in 1807). The Federal-era house shares a number of architectural similarities with the church, which was erected just a few years before. The first minister to occupy the parsonage was Rev. Zolva Whitmore (1792-1867), who was active in the Underground Railroad. Future landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) boarded with Rev. Whitmore when he was seven years old.

William Hubbard Atkins House (1840)

The Greek Revival-style double house at 93-97 Broad Street in Middletown was built c. 1840-1841 by William Hubbard Atkins, who owned the Hubbard Hardware Company. In 1853, Elijah Loveland, owner of a livery stable, bought the south half of the house. It remained in the Loveland family while the north half had a number of owners until 1904, when Dr. John E. Loveland acquired ownership of both halves. Dr. Loveland had his medical practice in the building. In 1960, the American Red Cross acquired the building from Dr. Loveland’s widow and occupied it for many years.

Putnam House (1860)

The Putnam House Hotel was built at 12 Depot Place in Bethel in the early 1860s by the Judd family. The Putnam House Restaurant web site says it was built 1852. The land on which the hotel was built was owned by Seth Seelye, whose house on Greenwood Avenue would later become the Bethel Public Library. Ownership of the hotel changed hands several times over the years. By 1922, it was owned by Oscar Gustavson, who sold the building in 1955 to George Shaker, a local realtor, who turned it into apartments. The building was later converted again, this time to serve as the first of six restaurants that have occupied the space since 1982: Dickson’s, La Plume, Papa Gallo’s, Mackenzie’s Old Ale House, Monetti’s and currently, since 1998, as The Putnam House Restaurant and Tap Room.

Daniel M. Tyler House (1840)

At 49 Camp Bethel Road in Haddam is a Greek Revival house erected by Daniel Melvin Tyler (1804-1868) shortly after he acquired the land, south of Rutty Creek, in 1839 from Heman Tyler. It was part of the old house lot of Daniel M. Tyler’s great-grandfather, Nathaniel Tyler (1699-1744). Daniel Tyler married Dolly Shailer, sister of Florilla Shailer, who lived with her husband Jared Shailer on Bridge Road. Daniel and Dolly’s youngest sons, Albert and George, both attended Wesleyan University and Yale Law School.

In 1908, the family sold the house to Emil Schutte, whose main residence was on Middlesex Turnpike. One of Haddam’s most notorious residents, Schutte ran a gas station and grocery store on Middlesex Turnpike and served as town constable and tax collector. He also engaged in shady real estate deals and terrorized his wife and seven sons. In 1921, he was put on trial for murdering four people in Haddam. After he was declared guilty, Schutte attempted suicide at the Haddam jail, but he was eventually hanged at the state prison in Wethersfield on October 22, 1922.

Martha Apartments (1926) & Palace Theater (1928)

Located at 161-169 Main Street in Danbury is the Martha Apartments/Palace Theater complex. Designed by architect Philip Sunderland, the Martha Apartments were erected in 1926. The third storefront from the south end on the building’s ground floor (165 Main Street) is the entrance to the Palace Theater, the fifth largest auditorium in Connecticut. The theater opened on September 6, 1928 as a vaudeville stage seating 1,999 (a way to avoid the law that a 2,000 seat theater had to join the union and pay extra fees). The Palace soon switched over to moving pictures. In 1979, it was converted into a triplex by the addition of partitions, and continued in business until 1995. In 2008, owner Joe DeSilva began to renovate the historic theater to become a venue for film and the performing arts.