This unique Greek Revival style house is located on North Main Street in Chester, Connecticut, and was built around 1830 for John Gilbert. Johnʼs sister (Abby Gilbert Daniels) lived in a Greek Revival house on Liberty Street that had been built a few years earlier and was said to have been designed by Ithiel Town, a renowned Connecticut architect who specialized in Greek Revival style designs. It is thought that Town may also be the architect of John Gilbert’s residence seen here. The temple-front facade of the residence sits on a raised basement with the side-hall entrance and full-height hung windows on the facade sheltered under a portico supported by four square Doric columns. In the early 20th century, the property was purchased by Antonio Zanardi, who immigrated to Chester from Italy and worked as a watchman in a local factory. Antonio and his wife, Claudina, had a large family and expanded the house with a side wing in the early 1900s, also adding greenhouses and growing grapes on the terraced rear yard.
Buildings of New England 