Architecture

Timothy Phelps House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 155 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


This house was built in 1795 for Timothy Phelps and his wife Elizabeth. At the time, they had two young sons, Thaddeus and James, and they would later have a daughter, also named Elizabeth. The overall appearance of the house is similar to the traditional New England Colonial-style home, with a gabled roof and a symmetrical front facade, with four windows on the first floor and five on the second floor. However, the house is more ornate than the earlier Colonial homes, with classically-inspired elements such as the Palladian window above the door, cornices over the windows, and pilasters on the corners of the house.

Timothy Phelps died in 1836 at the age of 75, and Elizabeth died nine years later. Since then, the house has undergone some changes, including additions on the back. Probably the most noticeable change, though, is the metal roof, which was installed sometime before the first photo was taken. Overall, though, the house has retained its Federal-style architectural details, and it is one of many elegant 18th century homes in the center of Suffield. Along with the other surrounding homes, it is now part of the Suffield Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Elihu Kent, Jr. House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 161 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


This house was built in 1787 for Elihu Kent, Jr., who lived here with his wife Elizabeth and their four children, Rebecca, Betsy, Samuel, and Azel. Elihu was a farmer and tavern keeper, and he also served in the American Revolution alongside his father, Elihu Kent, Sr. He was captured at the Battle of Long Island, and subsequently spent a long time in one of the infamous sugar house prisons in New York City, where, according to historical records, he “suffered greatly.”

It seems unclear how long Kent lived in this house, because he also lived in a smaller home nearby at 221 South Main Street before his death in 1813. Since then, his house here has remained well-preserved, and it is one of the many 18th century homes that line North and South Main Street in Suffield. When the first photo was taken, it was listed as only being in “fair” condition, but it has since been restored, and is now part of the Suffield Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

221 South Main Street, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 221 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


The National Register of Historic Places form for the Suffield Historic District describes this house as “odd,” and it certainly is unique among the other houses in the area. It was built sometime around 1800 and was, at one point, the home of Elihu Kent, Jr., who also lived in a nearby house at 161 South Main Street. A veteran of the American Revolution, he had been captured during the Battle of Long Island, and spent time in a British prison in New York. Following the war, he lived in Suffield until his death in 1813.

The unusual appearance of this house is likely from many years of additions and alterations. When the first photo was taken, the photographer noted that “modern changes have destroyed all external evidence of early house,” with “modern additions on rear and north.” The oldest part of the house appears to be the gambrel-roofed section in the foreground, although the exact date of construction, and the names of subsequent owners, seems unclear. Not much has changed since the first photo was taken, though, and despite he changes it still stands as one of the many historic homes in the center of Suffield.

Samuel Hathaway House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 391 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


Samuel Hathaway was born around 1690 in Taunton, Massachusetts, but by 1719 he had moved to Suffield, where he married Sarah Rowe. He built this house sometime between 1720 and 1740, and he and Sarah raised their eight children here. During this time, he held several different town offices, including as a selectman and a highway surveyor. He was also involved in iron manufacturing, with a mill here in Suffield as well as ones in Willimantic and New Milford.

His businesses were evidently prosperous, because upon his death in 1765 his estate was valued at £1772, an impressive sum for the day. Samuel’s youngest son, Asahel, was also a leading resident of Suffield. A Yale graduate, he was a pastor for a short time before returning to Suffield, where he became a farmer and merchant. Around the turn of the 19th century, he purchased the mansion of Oliver Phelps, a Suffield landmark that remained in his family for many years.

Over the years, Samuel Hathaway’s former house has been expanded several times in the back, but it remains standing as one of the oldest houses in Suffield. Its construction even predates Suffield’s annexation to Connecticut, because prior to 1749 the town was part of Massachusetts. By the time the first photo was taken, the house was already around 200 years old, and very little has changed with the exterior since then. The house is now part of the Suffield Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Shadrach Trumbull House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 423 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


This house is located a little south of the center of Suffield, and it was built in 1779 for Shadrach Trumbull, a tailor who was originally from Westfield, Massachusetts. He was about 24 years old when he moved into this house, which was around the same time that he married his first wife, Jael Hathaway. They had four children together, before Jael’s death in 1785. Three years later, Shadrach remarried to Lydia Dwight, and they had six children of their own.

Shadrach died in 1811, but the house appears to have remained in his family for many years. According to 19th century property maps, his daughter Mary and her husband, George Bradley, were living here into the 1850s. On such maps, it is often hard to tell which house is which, but this one appears to have been theirs. As late as the 1869 county atlas, the house was labeled as being owned by a “C. Bradley,” suggesting that the house had remained in Trumbull’s family for at least 90 years after he built it.

By 1920, the house was owned by Charles C. Austin, a middle-ages tobacco farmer who lived here with his brother Ernest, and Ernest’s wife Adeline. The first photo was taken about 15-20 years later, in the midst of the Great Depression. It was taken as part of a WPA project to document historic buildings in Connecticut, and at the time the photographer noted that it was in good condition and “mostly original.” Around 80 years later, very little has changed in this scene, and the exterior of the house remains well-preserved. The interior has also retained much of its historical integrity, and the house is now part of the Suffield Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mercy Norton House, Suffield, Connecticut

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The house at 451 South Main Street in Suffield, around 1935-1942. Image courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

The house in 2017:


According to a marker on this house, it was “A frame of a house deeded to Mercy Norton” in 1701. This is also the date provided in the National Register of Historic Places listing for the Suffield Historic District, and, if accurate, it would make this house among the oldest in the town. It would also make it a fairly early use of a gambrel roof, as this style did not come into widespread use until later in the 18th century.

The house would have been smaller when it was first built, but is has subsequently been expanded in the back, giving it a saltbox-style appearance. There is also an ell that was later added to the back of the house, although it is not visible from this angle. When the first photo was taken, the house was described as only being in “fair” condition, but it has since been restored, and in 1979 it became a contributing property n the newly-created Suffield Historic District.