The Eliza Huntington Memorial Home in Norwich began as a private house, notable for its Greek Revival ornamentation. It was most likely built before 1835 (a “dwelling house” is already mentioned in an 1836 warranty to Jedidiah Huntington). Huntington bought the house when he retired from business. He died in 1872 and his will established the Eliza Huntington Memorial Home for Respectable and Indigent Aged and Inform Females on his former property. As described in a Report of the State Board of Charities to the Governor (1921):
The Home is located at no. 99 Washington Street and occupies a pleasant old-fashioned house surrounded by attractive grounds. It was formerly the residence of Mr. Jedediah Huntington, whose generosity established the Home as a memorial to his wife. The original endowment has increased until the income from it largely supports the Home.
As further explained in Caulkins History of Norwich (1874):
Mr. Huntington has made a deep and lasting impression upon the regard of our community, by the liberality which he has exhibited in his large and frequent donations to religious and benevolent objects, principally connected with the church to which he was attached. By his last will and testament, he gave the beautiful place, which was the residence of himself and wife for nearly forty years, as a home for indigent females, and appropriated $35,000 as a fund for its support. It is called the “Eliza Huntington Memorial Home,” as a tribute to his wife, who, during her last illness, expressed an earnest desire that a portion of his estate, which she would have received had she survived him, should be appropriated to found such an institution.