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

Capt. Pardon T. Brown House (1840)

The nomination for the Noank Historic District in Groton gives two names for the house at 45 Front Street: Capt. Pardon T. Brown and Luther Rathbun. The latter may be Captain Luther Morgan Rathbun (1805-1889), a fisherman. The sign on the house, built c. 1840, only gives the name Captain Pardon Brown, who was also a fisherman. A petition from 1845 concerning the Town of Groton’s purchase of an old church on Fort Hill for use as a town house was signed by Pardon T. Brown and other prominent men of Mystic and Noank. He was also one of the complainants in a claim for damages from the Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claims relating to an incident from the Civil War: the fishing smack L.A. Macomber was lying at anchor off Nantucket shoals on June 17, 1863 when she was captured and burned by the Confederate Bark Tacony.

John Bushnell House (1790)

The house at 141 North Cove Road in Old Saybrook was built in 1790 by John Bushnell. It was significantly remodeled in 1920.

726 Burnside Avenue, East Hartford (1850)

Built circa 1850, the house at 726 Burnside Avenue in East Hartford was used by the Burnside Methodist Church (now New Covenant Methodist Church) across the street as a parsonage from the 1910s until 1944, when it was sold to private owners. The house is a variation on the typical Greek Revival form, with the front entrance being located on the ell, rather than on the main block.

Choate Rosemary Hall: Paul Mellon Arts Center (1972)

A dramatic example of Modern architecture on the campus of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford is the private school’s Paul Mellon Arts Center, also called the PMAC. Designed by I. M. Pei, it was completed in 1972. The western section of the building contains a 770-seat theater, while the eastern portion has fine arts studios, music classrooms, music practice rooms and a 100-seat recital hall. Connecting the two sections underground is the Chase-Bear Experimental Theater, known as the “Black Box.” In 2015, the School received a $10 million gift to renovate building, primarily the main stage theater, which was renamed the William T. Little ’49 and Frances A. Little Theater in honor of the donors.

St. Mary Church, Stonington (1901)

The Blessing of the Fleet each summer is a yearly tradition in the Borough of Stonington. The event honors local fisherman who died at sea and blesses the fishing fleet for the safety and success of current fishermen. It begins with the Fishermen’s Mass at St. Mary Catholic Church, followed by a parade and the blessing at the dock by the Catholic Bishop of Norwich. By 1950 more than half of Stonington’s fishermen were of Portuguese descent and the first Blessing of the Fleet, which took place on July 1, 1956, was inspired by similar events held in other Portuguese fishing communities. Two institutions that are central to Stonington’s Portuguese community are St. Mary’s Church and the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society. As described in the History of the Town of Stonington (1900), by Richard Anson Wheeler:

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church at Stonington Borough.— This church was formed in 1851, and the edifice was erected the same year by subscriptions from the Catholics of Stonington, Westerly and the Mystics, under the supervision of Rev. P. Duffy, who was the first pastor. At present it is joined to Mystic as an out-mission and attended by the priests at Mystic, the Rev. Father Murphy being its present pastor.

The 1851 church was eventually expanded/replaced by a new structure. According to the Town of Stonington’s Property Listing Report, the current church building at 22 Broad Street was built in 1901.

Lewis Miller House (1840)

On the western edge of the village of Rockfall in Middlefield is a Greek Revival house at 51 Derby Road at the corner of Main Street. The house was erected c. 1840 by Lewis Miller, who had acquired the land in 1836 from Jane W. Baldwin. Lewis was the son of Giles Miller and the grandson of Deacon Giles Miller, an early settler of the area. The house remained in the Miller family until 1893.

Abel Chittenden House (1804)

The house at 1 Broad Street in Guilford was built in 1804 by architect-builder Abraham Coan for Abel Chittenden (1779-1816) on land that had been in the Chittenden family since 1639. After Abel’s death, his widow was in financial straits. She sold the house to Danforth Nettleton, who built the property’s unusual fence. In 1851, Abel’s son, Simon Baldwin Chittenden, returned to Guilford from New York, where he had made a fortune in the dry goods business. He bought back the old family homelot and developed the property into a landscaped summer estate. Behind the house he built a stone water tower, called Cranbrook Tower. Chittenden also added a Queen Anne-style front porch to the house, which was later removed, and a rear wing for a ballroom. He named the house at 1 Broad Street “Carnbrook,” after the place in England from which his ancestor, William Chittenden, had emigrated. He also purchased the house next door, at 29 Broad Street, which he named “Mapleside.” The house at 1 Broad Street remained in the Chiitenden family until 1968.