The Daniel Judd House (1730)

The Daniel Judd House in Farmington (not to be confused with the 1875 Daniel Judd House in Cheshire) is a colonial saltbox home built around 1725-1730. The house was built on land that Daniel Judd inherited from his parents, William and Mary Steele Judd, early settlers of Farmington. Judd sold his house to his oldest surviving son, James, in 1741 and it was willed to James Judd, Jr. in 1779, although the younger James lost his money and the property was foreclosed on in 1805. It then passed through various owners until it was acquired by James O’Rourke in 1874. In 1890, O’Rourke rented the house to Theodate Pope, daughter of the wealthy industrialist Alfred Atmore Pope. She soon purchased the house in 1892. Calling it the “O’Rourkery” after its previous owner, Pope hired the architectural firm Hapgood and Hapgood to restore the house. Some years later, she added a side entrance porch to the house and would continue to make other alterations to the building over the years.

In 1896, she acquired the property next to her home, which included an earlier, seventeenth-century dwelling, possibly built for William Judd. She had this building moved and attached to the O’Rourkery as an ell. Calling it the “Gundy,” Pope opened the ell in 1902 as an “Odds and Ends Shop” for students at Miss Porter’s School. Pope would later persuade her parents to settle in Farmington, using her experiences in restoring the O’Rourkery in designing for them the famous Hill-Stead estate. She would go on to design a number of other buildings. Theodate Pope later resided at Hillstead with her husband, John Wallace Riddle, but continued to own the O’Rourkery, using it as a retreat. After her death, the estate, including the O’Rourkery, became the property of the Hill-Stead Museum. The Gundy shop continued in operation under various people until 1969, but in 1975 the Museum sold the house. It is now a private residence. Behind the Gundy today is a notable (private) Colonial Revival garden.