The oldest building in Chester, Connecticut, is believed to be this First Period residence on North Main Street, which was originally built sometime after 1672, when land here was deeded to Thomas Dunk (1648-1683). The property was inherited by various members of the Dunk family, including Deacon Jonathan Dunk (1711-1781), who added onto what was originally a one-room, gambrel-roofed house as their families and wealth grew. The old Dunk Homestead is one of the many great landmarks in Chester and has been lovingly preserved for over 350 years!
The Charles Daniels House in Chester, Connecticut, is a sophisticated and excellently proportioned and designed example of a single-family residence in the Greek Revival style. Features like the Doric portico, flushboarding and frieze windows are components of a skillful design that has been credited to architect Ithiel Town, but this is unsubstantiated. The home was built around 1826 for Charles Daniels (1799-1838), a gimlet manufacturer, who had his factory nearby. Charles died in 1838, and the property was inherited by his second wife, Abby Gilbert, who also remarried and lived here with her new husband, Clark N. Smith, and they resided here until the early 1900s. Later, the residence was owned by the adjacent mill company, and used temporarily as a storage facility. The location adjacent to the deteriorating factory threatened the significant Daniels House, so in 1978, architect Thomas A. Norton had the house moved a short distance away onto the present site. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been preserved, inside and out, by later owners.
Ezra L’Hommedieu (1772-1860) settled in Chester, Connecticut, in 1812 with his brother Joshua, and built a factory on the south branch of the Pattaconk Brook, which cut through the small village. The brothers manufactured gimlets (not the cocktail), a small wood-boring hand tool used to drill precise pilot holes for screws or nails, preventing wood from splitting and making driving fasteners easier. Ezra invented and patented the single-twist ship auger in 1812, which helped propel Chester into a prominent ship-building community. From his success, Ezra had this residence built on North Main Street in about 1835, which, like his brother’s house on Maple Street, blends Federal and Greek Revival styles elegantly.
This beautiful Federal style side-hall house is located on Maple Street in Chester, Connecticut, and (at least a part of it) was built by 1755 by Isaac Buck, who deeded half of the property to his son, Justus, during his lifetime. In the early 1800s, the property was purchased by Joshua L’Hommedieu (1787-1880), a manufacturer, who had the property redeveloped or redesigned in the Federal style giving it the appearance we see today. The house has its gable end oriented to the street with an elliptical fan and dentil block detailing.
The Southworth House, also known as the Old Stone House, in Deep River, Connecticut, is a significant example of a stone, Greek Revival style house built for an important local family. The Southworth House was constructed in 1842 for Deacon Ezra Southworth (1803-1859) from stone harvested from one of the Southworth family’s quarries. Ezra was the son of local shipbuilder, Job Southworth who began building ships at the Deep River landing in the 1790s. Ezra Southworth branched off into manufacturing, becoming a partner and patent holder producing ink wells. His son, Ezra Job Birney Southworth (1844-1919), went into business with his father-in-law in shipping and served as a member of the State Legislature twice. In 1882, Ezra Jr. added the wooden ell onto the rear of the Stone House along with the wrap-around veranda and likely the rear barn as well. Ada Gilbert Southworth Munson was Ezra J. B. Southworth’s only child to live to adulthood and inherited the family home. She was a founding member of the Deep River Historical Society and bequeathed her family home to the Society in 1946, who have maintained the significant home here ever since.
This vernacular, Federal period house on Union Street in Deep River, Connecticut, was built around 1825 for (and likely by) John Gladding. John worked in town as a joiner, a historic carpenter/woodworker, who either built houses or ships in the nearby Connecticut River. The Gladding House was likely originally built as a half cape, with a side hall entry and the two window bays to its left. As the family grew, the house was probably added onto to the right of the entry with the irregularly spaced bays. Houses like these that modestly grow and adapt to modernizations over time are what makes many New England villages great.
John Dean Sturtevant (1816-1889) was born in New Hampshire and became engaged there in local woolen mills, quickly growing into advanced management positions. He operated woolen mills in New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and settled in Brookline where he had access to other states via excellent rail service. When he died in 1889, John’s heirs inherited their late-father’s properties, and began to develop them as Brookline filled out in the last decades of the 19th century. This handsome double-house at the corner of Cypress and Waverly streets was built in 1892 by the Sturtevant Estate, who rented the property to two families of wealthy residents. The Sturtevant Double-House is a landmark and exceptionally preserved example of the Queen Anne style, with varied siding, asymmetrical forms, complex roofline with dormers, and applied ornament in the form of carved panels.
The Lindens neighborhood, located just east of the civic and commercial core of Brookline Village, was long an apple and cherry orchard known as Holden Farm. Beginning in 1843, the area became the earliest planned development in the town and was laid out as a “garden suburb” for those wishing to escape the growing congestion of Boston. As originally conceived in 1843, it reflected the latest ideals of planned residential development for a semi-rural setting on land owned by Thomas Aspinwall Davis. The streets, parks, and house lots here were laid out by civil engineer, Alexander Wadsworth, who two years earlier, laid out plans for Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, the first “Rural Cemetery” in America. Early homes were built on speculation by John F. Edwards, an architect-builder, for Davis, who was strict about high-quality designs in the Greek and Gothic revival styles in his newly laid out neighborhood. This house, at 53 Linden Street, was built in 1844 by Edwards, and sold soon-after to John G. Faxon (1793-1861), a lumber merchant who made his fortune in Lubec, Maine until he moved to Brookline. Faxon sold the house in 1851 to Thomas Howe, who likely added the Italianate style tripartite windows with the lower having scroll brackets.
Another stately old home on Glezen Lane in Wayland is this brick, Federal style country mansion located across from the town Training Field. This residence is said to have been built by a Nathaniel Gleason (Glezen) and later inherited by a family member, Abel Glezen (1803-1890) who farmed the 55 acres of land and was a local politician. In 1900, as Wayland shifted from rural community to a desirable Boston suburb for summer residences, the Gleason House was purchased by Henry W. Patterson, who was in his late 20s when he bought this country house. Henry inherited his father’s estate and married Jane Harrington Adams from Massachusetts. The couple spent only a couple years here until Henry died in 1907 at just 35 years old. Jane, his widow, remained here until her death in 1950. The estate was subsequently subdivided and remains one of the finest homes in the community.
This First Period Home on in Wayland, Massachusetts, can be found at 184 Glezen Lane and is one of the community’s oldest residences. The Griffin-Malloy Homestead dates to about 1720 and is a large, single-family farmhouse that is just over 300 years old! Records state that the house was built by early settler, Samuel Griffin and possibly expanded later by his son, Deacon Jonathan Griffin. After generations of Griffin Family ownership, the old farmhouse was purchased in 1877 by Timothy Malloy (1839-1909) an Irish immigrant who settled in Wayland and operated a farm here. The house as of the 20th century, retained much of its original wood paneled walls and fireplaces, and has been lovingly preserved by generations of great stewards.
Buildings of New England 