Frederick G. Platt House (1886)

The distinctive home, built in 1886 for Frederick G. Platt, is located at 25 Court Street in New Britain. With its prominent tower decorated with ornamental terra cotta, the house is a striking example of the High Victorian Gothic style. Frederick G. Platt was president of the New Britain Lumber and Coal Company, incorporated in 1871, and secretary-treasurer of the Railroad Block Company. As explained in David N. Camp’s History of New Britain (1889), “The Railroad Block Company, which consisted principally of stockholders of the New Britain Lumber and Coal Company, was organized under the law relating to joint stock corporations, in 1881, with a capital of $24,000, to build a business block. The land purchased for the purpose was on Main Street, north of the railway, and the building erected is known as the Railroad Block. H. P. Strong is president, and F. G. Platt secretary and treasurer of the company.” Platt was also president of the New Britain Machine Company. In 1895, responding to changing tastes in architecture, Platt sold his house and built a new one on Grove Hill in the Colonial Revival style. The next owner of the house on Court Street was Harriet H. Merwin, widow of Charles P. Merwin of the Berlin Steam Brick Works. Attached for many years to a hardware store, the house was restored in 1987 and is now used for offices.