Italianate

Bromley-Bradley House // c.1850

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One of the eclectic mid-19th century residences in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood is the Bromley House, an exuberant blending of architectural styles that have been lovingly preserved. The history is a little murky on this residence but from research, the home was built around 1850 and was possibly a two-story flat-roofed Italianate style design with three-bay facade and off-center entrance. The home was acquired by Joseph Bromley, who appears to have added a third-story with gable roof. After the Civil War, the property was purchased by Lyman Erving Bradley, a veteran of the war who was employed as a police officer and later as private security for an area factory. It appears that Mr. Bradley, before his death in 1901, had the property expanded with a whimsical front porch, three-story side addition, and applied ornament in the Queen Anne style. The home is today a three-unit condominium, similar to the three-deckers found in cities all over New England.

Edward Rowland House // 1857

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The Edward Rowland House on Academy Street in New Haven’s Wooster Square neighborhood is among the many great mid-19th century residences in the city and a rare example of a bowfront form. The residence was built for Edward Sherman Rowland (1812-1882), a prominent grocer, real estate developer, and Assistant U.S. Assessor and his family. The home is an example of the Italianate style with double-bow facade and is built of brick covered in stucco. The property was converted to condominium units and now houses six families.

Hotchkiss-Stephens House // c.1843

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The Hotchkiss-Stephens House on Wooster Place overlooks the iconic Wooster Square park in New Haven, Connecticut, and is significant as an early neighborhood residence altered after the Civil War in the fashionable Italianate style. The brick residence is said to have been originally designed by Ithiel Town for Russell Hotchkiss (1781-1843), an early merchant in the neighborhood. Hotchkiss lived in the home just a year before his death in 1844. His second wife remained in the home for some years after his death, along with children and two Black female servants according to census records. The property was later purchased by Edward Stevens (1824-1884), a manager at the New Haven Clock Company, who had the property modernized with a full third floor with bracketed cornice, iron balconies and garden fence, and its stunning two-story castiron side porches.

Olive Street Rowhouses // c.1865

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The Wooster Square area of New Haven, Connecticut, is comprised of a lovely collection of houses and institutional buildings from the 1830s through the late 19th century, showing the ever-changing taste of architectural styles from Greek Revival to Italianate to Second Empire and Queen Anne. These rowhouses on Olive Street serve as bookends to long rows of houses on Court Street, a narrow, one-way street radiating from Wooster Square. The buildings were developed by the Home Insurance Company, a fire insurance firm and developer that helped fuel the development of residential New Haven in the 1860s by investing in real estate, primarily with fireproof masonry buildings. These Italianate style rowhouses were built in the 1860s after the Civil War and were sold on speculation to middle-class families. All buildings retain the original bracketed cornices, brownstone sills, lintels, and basement facing, and projecting porticos at the entries.

Plimpton-Winter House // 1868

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Only in New England will you find a historic 19th century house converted into a bank! The Plimpton-Winter House is located at 127 South Street in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and is among the finest Italianate style houses in the community. The residence was built in 1868 for Francis Newton Plimpton (1828-1913), who worked as a cashier and town treasurer, later becoming President of the National Bank of Wrentham. Two years after Plimpton’s death, in 1915, the house was bought by Murray Winter, who moved to Wrentham with his two brothers and established the Winter Brothers Tap and Dye Factory. The company manufactured gauges and valves during the early 20th century, quickly becoming the town’s largest employer until WWII. In the 1980s, the home was purchased and rehabilitated by the Foxboro Savings Bank to serve as its Wrentham Branch location. Today, the Plimpton-Winter House stands as a TD Bank Branch, where the exterior of the Italianate style residence is preserved, down to its bracketed cornice, ornate trim, bay window, and entry with paired wooden doors. How cool is that?


Jonesville Academy // 1868

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Jonesville Academy is a historic schoolhouse located in the village of Jonesville, in the town of Richmond, Vermont. The large, wooden schoolhouse was constructed around 1868 in the Italianate style with center entry tower, bracketed cornice, window and door hoods, and round arched windows, all hallmarks of the style. The building was constructed at the height of the area’s success as an industrial village, and operated as a high school and later as an elementary school until 1955, when schools in Richmond were consolidated. After the school closed, the building operated as a grange hall for a number of years until it reverted back to private ownership, and is today a single-family residence. 

Smith-Waterman House // c.1820

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One of the many great examples of Federal period houses being “Victorianized” later in the 19th century, the Smith-Waterman House on Broad Street in Warren, Rhode Island, stands out as one of the most elaborate. The residence was originally built by 1820 and possibly owned by Nathaniel P. Smith (1799-1872). After his death, the house was inherited by his son, N. P. Smith Jr., who would later sell the property to John Waterman, the Manager and Treasurer of the Warren Manufacturing Company. It was under Mr. Waterman’s ownership that the once standard Federal style house was enlarged and given Italianate features, including the wrap-around porch, overhanging eaves with brackets, addition and the three-story tower at the rear.

Warren Federal Blues Stable // c.1860

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The Warren Federal Blues is an active independent military organization of the Rhode Island militia that was founded in 1798 and today, serves primarily as a ceremonial honor guard and as historic educational organization in Warren, Rhode Island. Members originally served as marines to police navy seamen on the USS General Greene (1799), which was commanded by Christopher Raymond Perry, the father of Oliver Hazard Perry, who also served aboard the ship. The Warren Federal Blues still remain part of the Rhode Island militia but serve in a largely ceremonial and educational role using period muskets and cannon for special events. The organization purchased the historic barn of the Baker-Merchant House on Main Street in about 1990, saving it from demolition for expansion of church parking, and moved the former barn to this site, adjacent to the old Narragansett Engine House, creating a unique composition of diminutive, but spectacular buildings. The former barn, which dates to around 1860, though is likely older, features paired double-leaf doors on the facade, round-arch window in the attic, and a flared roof with cupola centered on the ridge. 

Baker-Merchant House // c.1750

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One of the most historic and architecturally unique houses in Warren, Rhode Island, is this pre-Revolutionary cottage on Main Street, that was modernized in the mid-19th century for later owners. Historians state that the house was built by Jesse Baker (1708-1751), who must have died shortly after its completion. At the time of the British burning of Warren during the Revolution in May 1778, Jesse’s widow resided here and saved the modest cottage from the hot embers of the adjacent burning Baptist Church, parsonage and arsenal by wetting every blanket and sheet in the house and spreading them over the roof of the home. The once modest, gambrel-roofed Georgian cottage, was purchased in 1868 by Dr. Joseph Merchant, a physician and surgeon, who “Victorianized” the house to the eclectic beauty we see today. Dr. Merchant added the projecting two-story corner tower, two-story front entry vestibule with Rundbogenstil tripartite window which reads like a Palladian window, projecting eaves with brackets, and stickwork in the north gambrel roof. The home was later inherited by Dr. Merchant’s daughter, Mary, and her husband, Howard K. DeWolf. 

Narragansett Engine Company No. 3 // 1846

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The Narragansett Engine Company No. 3 Station is an absolutely charming two-story building tucked away on Baker Street in Warren, Rhode Island, and is one of the oldest extant historic fire stations in New England. Built in 1846, the building features a flushboard-façade, pedimented-gable end oriented to the street, paneled double-leaf engine doors, and a rundbogenstil Palladianesque window centered on the second story. The small fire station was built to house, “Little Button”, a fire engine manufactured in Waterford, New York. This building served as a fire station well into the 20th century, and was restored decades ago by local preservationists. The building is open by appointment and houses the Warren Fire Department Museum.