The Marjorie Hayden House (1908)

Architect Wilfred Griggs designed the house at 70 Pine Street in Waterbury, which was built in 1908 for Margery (or Marjorie) Hayden. Her father was the inventor Hiram Hayden. When his house next door burned down, Margery and her sister Rose donated the land to the City of Waterbury to become Hayden Homestead Park. Margery Hayden bequeathed her own home to Waterbury Child Guidance Clinic in 1974.

Another house on the same street designed by Griggs is at at 175 Pine Street. It was built around 1901 for his brother, David C. Griggs. According to the History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Vol. III (1918):

In the acquirement of his education David C. Griggs attended Miss Pritchard’s private school, the public schools of Waterbury and the Sheffield Scientific School, from which he was graduated with the class of 1892. His early business experience came to him through eight months’ service with the Berlin Iron & Bridge Company and in February, 1893, he became identified with the Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Company, in which he worked his way upward through the various positions of the engineering department. In 1899 he was made a director of the company and was chosen to his present position as secretary in 1902.

David C. Griggs and his wife, Helen Trowbridge Williams, moved into the house in 1904. They lived there until their deaths (David in 1958 and Helen in 1966). The house’s current occupant is architect John J. D’Amico.