Connecticut Architecture. Christopher Wigren

66 AGING REVOLUTIONARY: Ansonia High School / 199

       67 COMFORT FOR THE DYING: Connecticut Hospice, Branford / 201

       PART NINE: DESIGNERS, BUILDERS, AND CLIENTS / 203

       68 MASTER BUILDER: Epaphroditus Champion House, East Haddam / 205

       69 FROM THE INSIDE OUT: Phelps-Hatheway House, Suffield / 207

       70 ARCHITECTURE FROM BOOKS: Willis Bristol House, New Haven / 209

       71 UNDER THE RADAR: Walter Bunce House, Manchester / 212

       72 HOMES FOR THE PEOPLE: Barnum-Sherwood Development, Bridgeport / 214

       73 HANDMADE: Avon Old Farms School, Avon / 216

       74 WHEN IS A COPY MORE THAN A COPY? Yale Divinity School, New Haven / 219

       75 ONION DOME IN THE COUNTRYSIDE: Saint Philip the Apostle Catholic Church, Ashford / 221

       76 YOUR TAXES AT WORK: People’s State Forest Museum, Barkhamsted / 223

       77 THE BUSINESS OF HOUSES: Broadview Lane, Warehouse Point, East Windsor / 225

       78 MODERNIST PATRONAGE: Torin Company Buildings, Torrington / 228

       PART TEN: COLONIAL AND COLONIAL REVIVAL / 231

       79 ENGLISH BEGINNINGS: Buttolph-Williams House, Wethersfield / 233

       80 THE CONNECTICUT HOUSE: Deacon Adams House, New Hartford / 235

       81 OUR OWN HISTORY: Horace Bushnell Congregational Church, Hartford / 237

       82 INVENTING RESTORATION: Hyland House, Guilford / 239

       83 AMERICAN STYLE: Waterbury City Hall, Waterbury / 241

       84 TOWNWIDE MAKEOVER: Litchfield / 243

       85 THE LAST VERNACULAR: Houses by Alice Washburn, Hamden / 245

       86 BACK TO HISTORY: Salisbury Town Hall, Salisbury / 247

       PART ELEVEN: MEANING AND MESSAGE / 249

       87 CONNECTICUT VALLEY BAROQUE: Ebenezer Grant House, South Windsor / 251

       88 REPUBLICAN SIMPLICITY: Old State House, Hartford / 253

       89 FEDERAL PRESENCE: United States Custom House, New London / 255

       90 ONE STYLE, TWO MESSAGES: Two Houses in Plainfield / 257

       91 THE ARCHITECTURE OF CITIZENSHIP: Connecticut State Capitol, Hartford / 259

       92 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford / 262

       93 IMMIGRANT SUCCESS: Villa Friuli, Torrington / 264

       94 NATIVE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, Mashantucket / 266

       PART TWELVE: TRANSFORMATIONS / 269

       95 HOW BUILDINGS LEARN: Taintor House, Hampton / 271

       96 CITY BEAUTIFUL: Downtown Naugatuck / 273

       97 CHANGE AND SIMILARITY: Canaan Institutional Baptist Church, Norwalk / 275

       98 HAZARDOUS DUTY: Wilcox, Crittenden & Company Factory, Middletown / 278

       99 MODEL CITY: Dixwell Plaza, New Haven / 280

       100 NEW LIFE FOR OLD BUILDINGS: Cheney Yarn Dye House, Manchester / 283

       Afterword / 285

       Architectural Glossary / 287

       Index / 291

      PREFACE

      Connecticut’s architecture tells many kinds of stories. Whether we are longtime residents, recent transplants, or visitors, we know the state first through its built environment—its buildings, landscapes, neighborhoods, and communities that embody the state’s history and are essential components of its present-day character.

      This book aims to introduce readers to Connecticut’s built environment through stories about one hundred places, chosen to present a cross section of the varied architecture found in the state. It is not intended to be a “best of” state architecture. While I have tried to achieve a balance of well-known places and lesser-known ones, any reader with a passing knowledge of the state will find many favorite works missing. Rather, they were chosen to illustrate the wide variety of Connecticut’s architecture, in terms of periods, building types, disciplines, geographical distribution, and expressive qualities. Above all, they were chosen because they had good stories to tell—about how they came to be, about the people who created or used them, about what they meant and how they fit into the state’s overall development.

      I hope that this book will provide new ways to understand