Update: As noted in a comment below, this house was demolished in 2022.
The house at 35 Wolfe Avenue in Beacon Falls was built in 1916 for Tracy S. Lewis, president of the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company. The company had been founded in 1898 by Tracy S. Lewis and his father, George Albert Lewis. The Lewis House and its grounds are part of a neighborhood created on the highland above the rubber factory for the company’s workers. Called the Hill, the neighborhood was designed by the renowned landscape architects, Olmsted Brothers. Parts of the house may date to c. 1855, when the property was owned by the American Hard Rubber Company. The house later lost its original wood shingle siding. The town acquired the property in 2008 for future municipal use and in 2010, after a report was released on the feasibility of restoring the house, there were debates over whether the house should be razed or renovated. The house’s future remains undetermined.
The building where Tracy Lewis lived was a built ca. 1855. Lewis moved into the house ca 1905. The property/house was placed on the State Register of Historic Places in 2010. The house was razed in 2022. In 2023 a building committee has been setup to review and present a new Community – Senior – Library project to the town.