The Italianate-style Nehemiah Sperry House was built in 1857 on Orange Street in New Haven. It was the home Nehemiah D. Sperry, a businessman and Republican politician. He was a builder and contractor, who joined his brother-in-law, Willis Smith, in the prominent New Haven firm of Smith & Sperry. Much of the Orange Street neighborhood was developed by the company, which also constructed the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in the city’s East Rock Park. Sperry served as New Haven’s postmaster, Secretary of State of Connecticut and as a U.S. Representative in Congress from 1895 to 1911. A lighthouse in New Haven Harbor, which no longer exists, was named in Sperry’s honor, as he had contributed much to the harbor area’s development. Sperry’s house, which has a design likely attributable to the office of Henry Austin, was originally much lighter in color and resembled the similar Edward Rowland House on Wooster Square.