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Built in 1876 on Main Street in Hartford for two brothers from the family that owned the Cheney Silk Mills in Manchester. The R. and F. Cheney Building was designed by the famous architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, and represents an early work in his distinctive Richardsonian Romanesque style, later exemplified in the (now gone) Marshall Field’s Wholesale Store, built in Chicago in 1885-1887. The Cheney Block is considered one of Richardson’s greatest buildings and considered by some to be Hartford’s most architecturally significant building. Originally used for retail space on the ground floor, with offices and apartment space above, it later housed Brown Thomson‘s and then G. Fox and Co.‘s Department stores. Today it is known as the Richardson Building and is again used for a mix of office and retail space, including a Residence Inn and the City Steam Brewery Cafe.

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Cheney Building (1876)
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2 thoughts on “Cheney Building (1876)

  • August 3, 2013 at 3:55 pm
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    Kenneth A Larson noted preservation artists’ pen and ink drawing on this
    architectural gem on display in a deli on Temple Street on the South side of this building.( Le Petit Chef ) -open for lunch Monday thru Friday.

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