The Edwin McNeil House (1867)

The Edwin McNeil House, on North Street in Litchfield, is a good example of an older home which was transformed into a Colonial Revival edifice in keeping with the overall style of the neighborhood. The house was originally a vernacular home, built by Edwin McNeil in 1867. McNeil, a civil engineer who had served as a major in the Civil War, was instrumental in bringing the Shepaug Railroad to Litchfield in 1872. The railroad linked Litchfield to New York and spurred the town’s development as a summer resort. McNeil’s house became the Litchfield Inn in the early twentieth century and was transformed into a Colonial Revival estate after it was purchased by a wealthy Waterbury industrialist in 1911. It was renovated again in the 1990s.