The mansion at 301 High Street in Middletown was built in 1838-1840 by Richard Alsop IV, son of the poet, Richard Alsop III. Sometimes attributed to architect Ithiel Town (the house resembles Town’s house in New Haven), it was probably designed by Platt and Benne of New Haven. The exterior and interior of the house are noted for their decorative trompe l’oeil murals (wall paintings). Alsop, a successful merchant and banker who lived in Philadelphia, built the house for his twice-widowed mother, Maria Pomeroy Alsop Dana, and it remained in the Alsop family until 1948, when it was purchased by Wesleyan University with funds given by Harriet and George W. Davison. The Davisons commissioned renovations of the house, completed in 1952 and directed by architect Arthur Loomis Harmon of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Associates of New York. Since 1952, the house has been home to the Davison Arts Center.
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