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ARCHITECTURE
GLASTONBURY‘S RECORD NUMBER
OF COLONIAL HOMES
by Jim Bennett and Henry von
Wodtke
Mr. Bennett is Executive
Director of the Historical
Society
and Mr. Von Wodtke is its
President
Anyone familiar with
Glastonbury knows of its
many charming old houses.
They provide variety and
character. What you might
not know is that Glastonbury
has more genuine colonial
houses--154 homes built
before 1800--than any other
town in the Connecticut and
more than all but one other
town in America. Four of
Glastonbury’s old homes date
from the 1600s, unusually
old for an American house.
Glastonbury has long been
known for its large number
of old homes. In 1961, Dr.
Lee J. Whittles, who for
decades had been studying
Glastonbury’s old houses,
counted over 175 of them
dating from before 1800.
About 25 of these houses
have since disappeared and
more are threatened.
Other Towns
Colonial settlements in
North America include the
Dutch settlements primarily
in New York State, English
settlements along the east
coast, French settlements
running up the Mississippi
River through the Great
Lakes and into Canada, and
Spanish settlements in
Florida and the south west.
Few early Dutch, French, or
Spanish colonial houses
still exist, although houses
have been built in these
styles since 1800. In
contrast, there still are
hundreds of genuine English
colonial homes.
Today, the largest number of
surviving English colonial
structures are found in New
England towns, where
Marblehead, Massachusetts,
with over 200 pre-1800
houses, has the most.
Newport, Rhode Island, with
over 300, has more than
either Marblehead or
Glastonbury, but it is a
city. No Connecticut city
has even 100. Other towns
with significant numbers of
pre-1800 houses include
Guilford, Connecticut with
148 in 1982 and probably
fewer now, and Wethersfield,
Connecticut with about 120.
What can sometimes be
confusing are the many
reconstructed houses that we
tend to know about because
often they are open to the
public. For instance, the
Turner House in Salem,
Massachusetts, best known as
the House of the Seven
Gables, is a spectacular
house, but not an original.
It is a reconstruction,
almost exactly like the
original. It includes some
original elements and is
rebuilt on the original
site. Even Williamsburg,
VA, a city known for
colonial architecture, has
fewer genuine colonial
houses. Much of what you
see there are
reconstructions or
relatively new structures
built in a colonial style.
Why So Many of Glastonbury’s
Colonial Homes Survived
Glastonbury had an early
start as an English
settlement. Its first known
real house (which has not
survived) was built in
1645. Early Glastonbury was
a colonial commercial center
that experienced building
booms in the late 17th
century and again in the mid
18th century.
In colonial times, however,
there were many towns with
more houses than
Glastonbury. Wethersfield
(of which Glastonbury was
originally a part), had more
homes than Glastonbury
throughout the colonial
period. During the 1700s,
both towns were important
centers of commerce, but
although Glastonbury
prospered, colonial
Wethersfield (and several
other American towns) always
had more commerce, people,
and housing.
During the 1800s,
Glastonbury continued to
have some industry, but
overall, it became a quiet,
rural town, particularly
from about the end of the
American Civil War until
World War II. Manufacturers
began to use steam engines
and, later, internal
combustion engines and
electric motors instead of
the abundant water power
once harnessed in
Glastonbury. At the same
time, shipbuilding and
shipping, formerly
profitable Glastonbury
industries, nearly
disappeared here.
The low level of commerce
meant that, in Glastonbury,
there was less need than in
other communities to replace
older structures with new
ones. Hartford, which was
also settled early, grew
more commercially and
evolved into a city. Old
buildings were torn down to
make way for new ones. In a
few cities, other than
Hartford, because urban
houses existed in close
proximity to each other, a
single fire destroyed
significant numbers of
colonial houses.
In rural Glastonbury, people
tended to make do with
existing buildings. There
usually was space for new
buildings without tearing
anything down or, if room
was needed, existing
buildings, particularly
houses, were moved for use
elsewhere.
According to Dr. Whittles,
another reason that
Glastonbury’s oldest houses
lasted so long is that they
were framed with oak. As a
result of all this,
Glastonbury has a record
number of old homes that
help make the town what it
now is, and with few
exceptions, its houses,
built as private dwellings,
remain that today.
Post-Colonial Houses
Glastonbury’s old structures
include hundreds of houses
built after the colonial
period. When it comes to
the numbers of these 19th
and 20th century
buildings, Glastonbury has a
lot, but holds no record.
More than 430 homes built in
the 1800s still stand,
giving Glastonbury over 580
houses that are over 100
years old, six of them over
three centuries old. Every
year, many homes built in
the early 1900s reach the
century mark, bringing to
about 750, the total number
of houses that are now over
100 years old. Each one
that remains adds to
Glastonbury’s amazing
treasure trove of old homes.
Signage
In appreciation of our
heritage, homeowners
frequently place signs on
their houses giving
historical information.
Many of the signs that you
see on Glastonbury homes
have been purchased from
Glastonbury’s Historical
Society. These signs are of
two types; both are white
with black lettering giving
the date of construction and
the name of the original
owner. The older signs,
sold during the 1930s, are
in the shape of a house with
a gambrel roof. The newer
signs, sold beginning last
year, are oval and often
give the profession of the
early owner.
Counting Houses
Our count of old houses in
Glastonbury is based on Town
and Historical Society
records. However, because
sometimes no record survives
revealing exactly when an
old structure was built, any
large count of very old
buildings involves some
estimates about age. Also,
many old houses present a
challenge because they
include additions that are
either older or newer than
the main building. In those
situations, the date of the
house is the earliest date
for the primary structure,
even when a lesser part of
the building is much older.
Thus, it is no easy matter
to get an accurate count for
Glastonbury.
Getting good counts for
other communities is even
more difficult, because
often those with access to
the best records have had no
reason to make an accurate
count. Our background
information comes from
reference books. House
counts come from historical
societies, both state and
local, and from other
institutions that do
historical research.
Threats of Destruction
Since Glastonbury has become
a thriving suburb, pressure
has increased to tear down
some of the old structures
to make way for something
new. In the last 40 years
we have lost about 25 of our
18th century
houses, four of them in the
last six years. A few of
these structures have been
moved elsewhere, but most
were destroyed.
Old buildings have been
destroyed, sometimes for
what seem like dubious
reasons. For instance, the
Town owned a small 19th
century brick structure on
Main Street that served
first as its Hall of Records
and later as its Police
Station. In the 1970s, it
was torn down to make way
for the parking lot next to
the Franklin Building on
Main Street, where Daybreak
Coffee is located today.
There are many stories like
this.
Not absolutely every old
structure must be preserved,
but once destroyed, an old
building is gone forever.
The Historical Society was
founded in the 1930s as a
successor to a committee
formed to save the Gideon
Welles House from
destruction. The Society
does its best to help
continue preserving
Glastonbury’s unique
heritage of old structures,
as well as providing
information so that they can
be better appreciated.
The Society maintains and
operates historic
properties, including the
Museum on Hubbard Green
(1840), the Welles Chapman
Tavern (1785), and the
Welles Shipman Ward House
(1755). On the Welles
Shipman Ward property, the
Society has reconstructed
the historic Eastbury Barn
(c 1790), an historic privy
(c 1790), and is recreating
other period buildings.
Most old structures in
Glastonbury, however, were
built as private homes and
remain so today. Thus, the
community relies on each
private owner to preserve
the part of its history that
he or she has title to.
Historic districts and
designations help, but often
the Society can do little
more than encourage private
owners to be good stewards
of their historic
properties. Fortunately,
over the years, Glastonbury
citizens generally have done
extraordinarily well in
preserving their old homes.
Descriptions of
Glastonbury’s Four Oldest
Homes
The fact that Glastonbury
has an extraordinary number
of genuine colonial homes
conveys nothing about the
charm and variety of these
old residences. To show
something of the reality
behind the impressive
number, here are
descriptions of the four
oldest houses in
Glastonbury. Each is over
300 years old and each is
still used as a private
residence, making these
homes rare in America.
These houses are described
here in the order that you
would encounter them if you
traveled south from Town
Center.
2017 Main Street--The
William Wickham House
is sometimes called the
house that turned a corner,
because it has two front
facades facing in different
directions. This early
colonial home was built in
two sections--the first in
1685 and the second in
1717. The oldest part was
built facing south on a
trail from the Connecticut
River in the salt-box
style--with a roof that
climbed steeply in front and
sloped down long in back,
making it look like the
boxes once used to store
salt.
When the Wickham’s son John
married and his wife moved
in, an addition was built to
provide more room. Main
Street had been laid out in
1698, and the gambrel-roofed
addition was built facing
it, but with a long sloping
salt-box roof to the back.
At the same time, the
south-facing roof on the
older part of the building
was changed to match the
gambrel roof that faces Main
street, but the long sloping
salt-box roof facing north
remained.
The salt-box roof is typical
of English colonial
structures. However, the
gambrel roof, used in
several early Glastonbury
homes, is more typical of
Dutch style colonial houses
than of English structures.
The gambrel roof with
dormers probably was used
here because it adds space
and light on the second
floor, and the style had
already been used for the
Reverend Steven’s house to
the south along Main Street.
1808 Main Street--The
Timothy Stevens House
was built for the
Reverend Timothy Stevens as
one of the inducements to
encourage him to settle here
so that “Glassenbury,” as it
was to be called, could
become an independent town.
Ministers were in short
supply. The townsmen
offered to the Reverend
Stevens an annual wage of 60
pounds, 150 acres of the
Town’s still undivided land,
and six acres with a
“suitable House.” This is
that house, a gambrel-roofed
structure. It probably was
built in 1693 and has an
unusually early brick
foundation. It was
described at the time as a
“girt dwelling” with a “good
Stack of Chimnies in it.” A
“girt” building is a frame
structure built using a
technique today called post
and beam construction.
The Reverend Stevens was
given the choice of a
20-foot long house or, if he
furnished the nails, glass,
and ironwork himself, a
40-foot long house. He
chose the larger structure.
The house still stands in
its original location on
Main Street. What is now
Morgan Drive follows a 17th
century cart road that led
eastward to woodlots. The
original Timothy Stevens
House is the south-facing,
white structure. As Dr.
Whittles observed, in 17th
century Glastonbury, all
houses faced south so that
the sunlight would help heat
them.
1224 Main Street--The
Bedford,
Massachusetts House
was moved from that town to
this Glastonbury site in
1974. This dark brown
stained house, with its
massive central brick
chimney, has leaded casement
windows with diamond shaped
lights. The house was built
in 1682, but the chimney and
windows were reconstructed
when the house was moved
here. Originally this house
almost certainly had lead
casement windows like those
you see now, but typically,
these were later replaced by
sash windows. Because old
leaded casement windows do
not last for centuries,
today the best place to see
an original is in a museum.
The Museum on the Green
displays the remains of a
leaded window from a
Glastonbury home.
With its steep pitched roof
and central chimney, this is
a typical English colonial
house built in what experts
call the English
post-medieval style. During
the late 1600s, this was the
most popular style for
houses in England’s American
colonies, with variations
typical for houses built in
the south that differ
somewhat from those built in
the north. The wood
paneling in the parlor and
in one of the bedrooms of
this house is thought to
date from about 1740.
The largest of the
outbuildings, the two-story
structure with the massive
field stone chimney, dates
from the 1705 and was moved
here from Chestnut Hill Road
in Colchester, Connecticut,
where it had been part of a
tavern. Many buildings have
been moved within
Glastonbury. The buildings
on this property are among
the few old structures moved
here from other towns.
Also, a few of Glastonbury’s
old structures have been
moved to other communities.
14 Tryon Street--The
John Hollister House,
according to Dr. Whittles,
was built in 1649. It has
long been recognized as the
oldest surviving house in
Glastonbury and one of the
five oldest in the state.
It originally stood almost
directly on the bank of the
Connecticut River, and was
built in the English
post-medieval style. In its
original location, the
spring freshets regularly
flooded the house, so in
1721, according to Dr.
Whittles, it was moved to
its present location away
from the flood water, giving
it the advantage of the
lovely spot by Roaring
Brook.
Architecturally, the house
is a two-story “lean-to”
with overhangs. It is a
post and beam structure made
of hand-hewn beams and
uniquely carved brackets.
It has a center chimney.
Originally, it had only four
rooms--two on the first
floor and two on the second,
with the second floor
overhanging in front, all
typical of the English
post-medieval style. The
lean-to in the rear of the
building, which houses a
keeping room, was added
around 1830, according to
Dr. Whittles. It gives the
house its salt box
silhouette. There has been
controversy about just what
part of the house was moved
from the original site and
just when that happened, but
all agree that this is
basically a 17th
century house and the oldest
one to survive in
Glastonbury.
Lieutenant John Hollister
had a home in what is now
Old Wethersfield as well as
this house built on his
farmland on the east side of
the River. Subsequently,
some of his descendents made
this the ancestral home for
many generations of the
Hollister family.
Conclusion
Largely as the result of
historic circumstances,
Glastonbury today has more
homes dating from the
colonial period than any
other Connecticut town.
This is remarkable when you
realize that, during the
colonial era itself,
although Glastonbury
thrived, there never was a
time when Glastonbury had
the more houses than any
other town in the state.
PROPERTY OWNED BY THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY WELLS~SHIPMAN~WARD HOUSE-MUSEUM
by Lin Scarduzio (Curator)
The Town of Glastonbury is
resplendent with historical
arcitecture worth keeping
safe. Take, for example, the
WELLS~SHIPMAN~WARD HOUSE:
Colonel Thomas Welles a
wealthy Glastonbury
shipbuilder and his wife
Martha Pitkin Welles built
the house at 972 Main St (Rt
17), S. Glastonbury, in 1755
for their son John Welles.
In 1753 John married Jerusha
Edwards (daughter of Samuel
and Jerusha Pitkin Edwards).
They had 6 children born
from 1754 through 1763 (one
dying in infancy). In 1764,
John died from pneumonia at
age 35, leaving Jerusha with
5 children ranging from age
10 to 1. In 1773, the eldest
son, John Jr. married
Mehitabel Goodrich (daughter
of William and Mehetabel
Hollister Goodrich). They
made their home with Jerusha
and John’s siblings at this
property and had 7 children,
born from 1774 through 1788
(the eldest died young).
The Revolutionary War was
costly to the Welles family
having built 3 privateers,
which were not profitable,
putting the family heavily
in debt. In 1789, the house
was lost to two creditors,
Stephen Shipman, Jr., and
Nathaniel Talcott, Jr.
Shipman bought Talcott’s
share of the house around
1790, and the Shipman family
retained the home for more
than 100 years. Dr. and Mrs.
James Ward purchased it in
1925. The Historical Society
of Glastonbury obtained the
House in 1963 through a
bequest from Berdena Hart
Ward, a Society member.
The House, cited by the
United States Department of
the Interior “as possessing
exceptional architectural
interest,” is known for its
enormous fireplace in the
kitchen. The elaborate
paneling and molding in the
parlors have been noted in
books on New England
architecture as prime
examples of their style.
Upstairs, the Glastonbury
Weavers display their craft
on antique equipment, while
the Northeast Chamber has
children’s drawings etched
on the walls. The
Glastonbury Garden Club
maintains the 18th
century-style herb garden
and grounds. The barns are
filled with antique farming,
household, and 19th century
horse-drawn vehicles. |
