The William Reddick House, Ottawa, IL

The William Reddick House, Ottawa, IL. 1858 Photo: Paul Kaiser

Photo: Wikimedia

The William Reddick house is the jewel of Ottawa, IL. Built in 1858 for Reddick, an Irish immigrant, philanthropist, politician, and businessman, the house on his death was left as a library to the city until it was restored as a house museum. It is located in the Washington Park historic district and both the mansion and Reddick figured in the Lincoln-Douglas debates that took place in the area. The architect was Peter Nicholson who started planning the house in 1855. The house is reportedly considered one of the most elaborate and expensive mid-19th century homes in the whole state of Illinois and remains a particularly significant example of the sophistication of Italianate architecture in the area.

The house follows the symmetrical plan, although its style is unconventional. The Reddick house features two polygonal bays connected by a porch (pictured above) on the east façade, mimicking the pavilion plan from that side, while the west façade has one polygonal bay. Interestingly, the bays intersect directly with the front façade, giving the house the appearance of having chamfered corners. The house's basement is unusually high with large windows, almost approaching the style of an English basement. The finish is brick with limestone trim.

Befitting its mid 19th century construction, the Reddick house is not overly ornamented. On the façade there are lateral and vertical distinctions. Vertical unity is enforced by the pairing of windows on the sides of the entrance. On the first floor, these are grouped into pairs by a solid block limestone facing that gives the effect of a box window although it is very shallow. This box window effect is continued by having the slight projection extend to the basement. The balcony on top completes the effect and ties the first and second story windows together. Limestone quoins at the corners also draw the eye upward. Laterally, the segmental arched windows in the basement are ensconced in a limestone base. The arched windows with Venetian tracery on the first floor are differentiated from the segmental paired windows on the second. The belt courses and cornice further develop the house's lateral focus.

The cornice itself is beautifully inset with alternating semicircular windows and semicircular panels with rosettes. An interesting feature is that the molding above the windows projects further than is usual and is decorated with panels flanking a central rosette, making this a paneled cornice. The porch and window surrounds, all of limestone, are also plain, notable because of their strong keystones, and, on the second floor, small, almost abstract foliage bosses. The brackets are on the two s-curve type. The front door, which is flanked by sidelights and has a lunette window above looks like a conservative throwback to Federal or Greek Revival design. The front steps with their terraced balustrade seem particularly calculated to appear grand and imposing. I like how Reddick and his architect didn't skimp on the decoration of the sides; it is consistent all around the house. The enlargements of the above photographs below highlight a couple details.

The house's website has a great deal of information including interior views and floor schematics.

The Thomas Jefferson Southard House, Richmond, ME

The Southard House, Richmond, ME. 1855 Photo: Taoab

 

The Thomas Jefferson Southard house, at Richmond, ME, was built in 1855 for one of the largest shipyard owners in Maine. Southard was also an important state politician and was a big developer in Richmond. He might have been the designer of the house, according to the HABS data pages, since he learned joining as a youth, but he also might have bought some plans. The house is considered one of Maine's most important Italianate homes and is built on an impressive scale. The Southard house follows the symmetrical plan and has clapboard siding with verge boards at the corners. The detailing and state of preservation are impressive. On the first floor, the window surrounds are plain enough, but a panel with flanking brackets support deep balconies for the segmental arched windows on the second floor that have rectangular eared moldings and cornices. The front door has the glass surround within an arch and a strong front porch with large brackets that might have a touch of the Indian about it. A unique feature of the door surround is the glass, which is painted elaborately with figures and rococo swirls. The central window on the second floor consists of two tombstone windows joined by a common arch, simulating the effect of Venetian tracery. The cornice has paired brackets and an interesting cut wooden fringe running underneath the eave. Other interesting features include the almost Gothic, pointed arch porch to the side which looks to have been glassed in and filled in at an early date, a beatuiful cupola with brackets and inverted brackets framing it at the corners, and a tent roof porch resting on brackets on the left facade. The following photographs from HABS show views of the house and interiors. 

 

 The interesting painted glass on the glass door surround.

 

 A view of the interesting wallpaper treatment in the library.

A view of the house when it was new.

The George R. Fairbanks House, Fernandina Beach, FL

The George Fairbanks House, Fernandina Beach, FL. 1885 Wikimedia

The Fairbanks house is a late Italianate, built in 1885, very late in the career of this style. Apparently, George built it for his wife as a surprise and she was not amused. Perhaps it was because he had built her a house 5 years out of date stylistically (she could never have her 'artistic home' she read about in contemporary publications), or perhaps nothing pleased Mrs. Faribanks (Victorian women could be a bit high strung). At any rate, the house is currently a bed and breakfast; check out their website. There are some good interior photos, which show how the interior is an odd mishmash of Renaissance Revival, Queen Ann, and even Arts and Crafts elements.

The house is an irregular plan Italianate, a plan which had by this time gotten a lot of mileage. In this case, the projecting pavilion is flush with the tower, although a board defines the tower from the pavilion, keeping the elements in their place. Stylistically, the house actually looks like it was built in the 1850s. It is sided in wood, and the ornamentation is kept to a minimum. The cornice is simple, with plan brackets and an architrave molding. The windows have simple moldings, although the balcony attached to the double tombstone window is a neat flourish. The pediments on the doubled windows on the left side is also a bit of spice. The porch has heavy, very Italian looking arches framed by pilasters. At the entrance, the arches form a triple arched Palladian window, a very American feature. Even the side porch incorporates the Palladian motif. It seems very appropriate to Florida to emphasize porches and balconies; at the beach everyone wants to be outside. Unlike the usual triple windows, the tower top has quadruple arched windows, no doubt to allow a better panorama. Although the house is Italianate, it has not escape the influence of Queen Ann. The box window over the entrance, especially the type of windows it has with heavy dividers, are very Queen Ann in style, as are the railings and the elaborate brickwork on the chimney. The double height box windows at the sides also smack of Queen Ann, and look more like San Francisco architecture than that of the East Coast. I suppose though that they participate in the eccentricity of shore architecture. A cute feature is the little dormer window in the hip roof. If someone built this for me, I wouldn't complain!

The Oliver Ames Jr. House, Easton, MA

The Oliver Ames Jr. House, Easton, MA. 1862 Photo: Joel Abroad

The Ames house in Easton, MA, was built by Oliver Ames Jr. a member of a prominent local family who owned a shovel factory and was involved in the Union Pacific Railroad. It was designed by George Snell, an English architect who opened a firm in Boston in 1850. The house is clapboarded with wooden corner quoins and follows the symmetrical plan. It certainly reflects Ames' family stature in Easton. The house has several fancy features. On the first floor, the window hood moldings are typical bracket and cornice types; a wooden belt course separates the first and second floors. On the second floor, the windows are segmental arched with brackets, pediments, and carved doodads inside the pediments (people loved their carved doodads). One odd aspect is the tiny sills on the windows, which look almost comically undersized. The main porch is very deep with square columns with chamfered corners. It looks like it could be a port cochere. The central window on the front and side facades are double tombstone windows with a fantastic curving pediment over them that curves from the corners to a point. This shape almost looks Eastern European baroque, but can be found in Italianate houses, even though it's decidedly un-Italian. The cornice has paired brackets and is simple, with a thick architrave board and a panel, making it a paneled cornice. A central pediment breaks the cornice and has a small fanlight window.

A neat feature of the house is how the side facade is so well finished. It has a projecting central bay that echoes the central bay on the front (except it has a bay window). The stunning feature of the house is the cupola. The cupola has brackets and inverted brackets at the corners, giving it a flowing, almost exotic, look. Elaborate carvings top the triple arched windows. The hip roof curves up to an attachment at the center which serves as the base for the finial. It has pediments on four sides. This looks a bit pagoda like, since the roof moves up in stages. It's a wonderful cupola that rounds of an interesting house. Images of the lovely interior can be found here.

40 Main Street, Walpole, NH

40 Main St. Walpole, NH. 1860s? Photo: Doug Kerr

This Italianate in Walpole is at 40 Main St and it currently serves as law offices. and I am guessing it was built in the 1860s because of its style, although New Hampshire tends to be conservative architecturally. It follows the symmetrical plan and has flushboard siding, which simulates plastering. The design is simple but elegant. The windows have simple cornice and bracket hood moldings with fancy decorated brackets; the central segemental arched window has a curved cornice above it, delineating the central bay from the sides. The porch is a lovely composition with a shallow arch supported by Corinthian columns with s-curve brackets that have finials. In a way, the brackets remind me of those found on Indian Italianates, with their vegetal finials and elongated appearance. The door is also segmental arched and the molding that divides its side lights and transom is also curved along with the arch, a nice feature. The cornice has a defined frieze and paired brackets with small frieze windows. What really catches my eye in this house is the cupola, which is one of my favorite types. The cupola cornice on the four sides curves along with the central window, creating an undulation in the line, something I have a real weakness for. The cupola's high base is also neat because it makes it more visually dominant, unlike the cupolas which you can barely seen above the roof. The cupola windows have unusual Venetian tracery, something that is more commonly seen on facade windows.

The Benjamin Franklin Webster House, Portsmouth, NH

Benjamin Franklin Webster House, Portsmouth, NH. 1880 Photo: Patti Gravel

Benjamin Franklin Webster was a prominent builder in Portsmouth, NH, a city famous for its colonial architecture, who was responsible for many Victorian buildings in the area. This impressive structure is his own house that he designed for himself and his wife in 1880. The house is well preserved and is owned by a funeral home that is committed to preserving the beauty of the home (kudos to them!). The house follows the irregular plan, an appropriate choice for a house built on such a grand scale. The plan is not exactly followed, since the recessed wing has one extra bay than usual, and the tower is far higher than usual. The skill of Webster can be seen, however, in that the lengthening of the facade is balanced out by the heightening of the tower. Overall, the house is flushboarded, an impressive treatment for an entire facade.

The late date is no doubt responsible for some of the elaboration of details, which strongly reflect the designs of the 1870s. Everywhere on the house, the careful thought of an architect is evident in the fine and sometimes unique details. The window hood moldings have pediments on shelves supported by carved brackets with a strip of dentil molding. The pediments alternate between simple triangular ones and round ones which are broken by a keystone. An unusual feature is that beneath the porch, the windows have no moldings, but instead have long brackets helping to support the roof, an interesting and no doubt practical feature. The corners of the house have wooden quoins. The porch itself, supported on a lovely stone and wood base, has arched openings, somewhat odd Corinthian capitals, and brackets. It bows around the Renaissance Revival front door at the base of the tower. The cornice has the unique feature of having groups of triple brackets, with a long bracket flanked by two smaller ones. Dentils and a frieze of rosettes enliven the design.

The tower is a particularly beautiful design. It has pairs of windows going all the way to the top, eschewing the expected arched windows or triple windows on the stop stage that are usually found. The treatment of the paired windows is elaborate, with pilasters and wooden fringe defining them. Above the third stage of the tower, it transitions from being a square to an octagon with chamfered corners. This is handled with beautiful curved scrollwork that responds to the shape's transition. The octagonal top stage has windows on four sides with the intervening sides blind with arched panels. The whole is topped with an elegant balustrade. In every way, the home is fantastically preserved, and shows the careful thoughts of a designer rather than a builder.

 The bracketed windows under the porch.

The Edward Payson Ferry House, Grand Haven, MI

The Edward Ferry House, Grand Haven, MI. 1872 Photo: Ed Post

The Edward Ferry house in Grand Haven is a breathtaking example of the elaboration (some might say monstrification) of architectural forms in the 1870s. Built in 1872, it follows a traditional side hall plan, with clapboards, but the simplicity of the plan is made up for in details. The window molds are particularly zany. The windows themselves are shallowly arched, but are surrounded by a flat topped trefoil molding surounted by a pediment with shelves. This is further modified by turnings, decorated keystones, incised designs, and s-curves to give it an eared shape.The cornice is even interrupted by the pediments that jut into the frieze. The cornice as well is complex, with elaborate brackets, hexagonal windows and panels, and a unique feature, an overhanging fringe with incised decoration. The fringe, contrary to what we've seen, does not come at the architrave below the frieze, but is set on the upper part of the frieze. Thus, the cornice is paneled with a fringe band. The side has another interesting feature, an elliptical window with a pediment above it, a rarity in Italianate design. The steps are an unfortunate addition, which could have occured sometime in the earlier 20th century. I imagine that originally, there was a flight of stone steps with some over the top balustrade that echoed the fun of the house. It is currently a vacation rental property and bed and breakfast. The site of the house has some interior pictures.

The Henry Goulding House, Worcester, MA

The Henry Goulding House, Worcester, MA. 1850 Photo: Wikimedia

The Henry Goulding House, built in 1850, is a beautiful specimen of design in Worcester. Subtle and sober, it has a powerful appearance on the street, and it seems to aspire to Anglo-Italianate designs, although certain elements are decidedly outside of that vein. The house follows the symmetrical plan and appears to be stuccoed. As we have seen, the restrained cornice, with closely spaced brackets is typical of Anglo-Italianate, but this house does not employ a full entablature, since it's missing both a full frieze and architrave. The cornice is given rhythm by small panels inserted between the brackets, making it a paneled cornice. The hood moldings are again restrained as in Anglo-Italianate, consisting of a cornice on brackets. The shallow slope of the pediments on the first floor windows suggest Greek Revival influence, which favors shallow pediments over steep pediments. The porch is decidedly unclassical in inspiration (although it also has a sober cornice), consisting of two small arches and a large trefoil center arch in the center with defining moldings that suggest columns. This shape is reflected by the triple arched Palladian design of the door and its side lights. The porch looks to be made of wood laid flush, no doubt to simulate stone and stucco facing. The balustrade is particularly fine on the first floor, with interlocking ellipses. The house is currently the Swedish Lutheran Home for the Aged, the fate of many an Italianate mansion. The mass to the right of the house looks like later additions for that purpose.

The New Haven Railroad Station, New Haven, CT

The New Haven Railroad Station, 1848-49 

This will be my last post for this slew of Indian Italianate designs, and this is by far the most exotic. This was formerly the State Street train station in New Haven, designed by Henry Austin in 1848-1849. It was never very popular. The low placement of the tracks, as can be seen in the architect's elevation, was a major design problem that caused the terminal to fill with smoke from the trains. In the New Haven Historical Society, a child is quoted as saying to his father on arriving in the station "Dad, is this hell?" The father replied "No, son, this is New Haven." It was converted into a market in 1874 and was eventually destroyed by a disastrous fire (after a few renovations in the 80s) in 1894.

The center of the station is clearly Italianate. A projecting central section of seven bays had arched topped windows, brackets, and a central pediment. There were six more bays to either side leading to the towers. The towers are where exoticism comes into play. The tower to the left had a typical Italianate base with tombstone windows and strong belt courses, suggested by other works like the Norton house. The roof, however, flared outward and terminated in a bizarre cupola with arched, dripping, rooflines. The whole was capped by an elaborate finial. The right hand tower was even larger; the first stages below the main cornice consisted of a tall Venetian style window. As one went past the exceptionally broad eave, there was a cruciform cupola with a general round arched silhouette that framed the clocks. Above that was an octagonal pavilion with a low peaked roof that seems to emulate the Athenian Temple of the Winds.This was topped by what appears to be a weather vane. To add to the peculiarities, the central cupola had two stepped roofs reminiscent of a pagoda in the original design (this was toned down in the final plan a bit). As a contemporary observed when defending the exuberance of the station, the station was "of more ornament and elegance than otherwise might have been." (O'Gorman, 134) The orientalism of the exterior was reflected in the Moorish style divans and furnishings of the waiting rooms.

Considering stylistic influences, one can see the influence of Indian stupas, particularly in the left hand tower, with its stages. One critic has seen the influence of Indian chaitya arches in the shape of the roofs on the towers. Others have compared the towers to minarets and the central cupola to Chinese pagodas. At the end of the day, the station was eclectic but firmly within Austin's Indian Italianate style. It was truly one of the most fantastic buildings ever constructed in this style and it is a shame to have been lost. The same playfulness seen in the Brighton Pavilion can be seen in the innovative approach to ornament and design in the New Haven station, making it both a stylistic and spiritual heir to the Anglo-Indian design it pioneered in the US.

The James Dwight Dana House, New Haven, CT

The James Dwight Dana House, New Haven, CT. 1849

The James Dwight Dana house on New Haven's Hillhouse Avenue, represents another important example of Indian Italianate by Henry Austin that does not follow the Bristol house plan. Built in 1849 for Dana, a celebrated natural history professor, the house breaks with what we have seen by following the side hall plan. The house is finished in stucco scored to look like stone, and has no window surrounds to speak of. The real pleasure in this house is the exotic detail. Starting from the porch, we can see the candelabra columns that are the most often encountered, with an 'urn', lotus bus, fluted shaft, and dripping echinus. The plinths of the columns are elaborate on the Dana house, with chamfered corners and spiked tops, adding an even greater touch of variety. The porch balustrade is also interesting with hardly describable balusters that almost look Art Nouveau. The tops of the columns are repeated inside the porch and look like stange inciples hanging down. Note the odd window tracery (almost Queen Ann) and the etched glass on the door. The tracery particularly reflects the designs at the Bristol house.

The cornice is also delightful. Although the house lacks brackets, this is made up for by the fringe design that runs around the house. The fring has free-form horshoe arches with balls at the end, simulating tassels. There are steps in the brick to suggest an architrave and frieze. A wing juts out to the north, which is enlivened by a shallow bay window and an odd decorated oriel in the corner. On both window protrustions, there is a similar fringe and trefoil motif. The back of the house has an very strange corner bay with fish scale shingles or tiles that is pierced by windows. I'm not really sure what to say about that except that its cool. The cupola on the roof, which is very hard to see from the street, is of a unique type that is almost entirely glass. It has dozens of small closely spaced windows in it without strong divisions and has scrolled supports. Looking at its spare design, it almost looks modernist and recalls the Metripolitan Opera in New York. A comparison with Austin's drawing from Yale University, shows many variations. There is no cresting on the porch roof, and the north wing is not included. The following pictures illustrate some of the aspects up close and include interior shots and plans from HABS.

Austin's original plan above.

 The HABS plan.

The Interior:



The interior is rather simple. The s-curve newel post can be found on several of Austin's houses. There appears to be etched glass in some of the windows.

A Third Type of Indian Italianate

The Dr. P. W. Ellsworth House, Hartford, CT. 1850s?

Plan by Henry Austin for an unbuilt house.

This Indian Italianate I have depicted in the first image is the Dr. P. W. Ellsworth house that once stood on Main Street and Grove Street in Hartford, CT. Unfortunately, the house is poorly documented, and this is the only picture I could find of it. The house is in a unique style for this sub group. It has two bowed bays with four windows on each and follows the symmetrical plan. It's bowed bay style resembles some houses designed by Henry Austin on Orange Street and Chapel Street in New Haven. The house looks like it has stucco scored to look like stone or actual stone. The second floor windows on the sides have a curving balcony that runs along them with lacy ironwork and an exuberant fringe. the fringe is repeated above the unbracketed cornice in the cresting. The lack of molding around the windows is consistent with the Bristol house style. The crowning glory of the house is the two story porch. On the first stage there are candelabra columns, a trefoil ogee arch, and long sinuous brackets, all characteristics of a chhattri porch. The second stage is simpler, with plain candelabra columns and an iron balustrade. The whole is topped by a fantastic ogee dome with a tall finial. Above the central bay on the roof is a large stepped wooden piece for cresting.

The second image shows a plan by Henry Austin, kept at Yale University. This plan is utterly fantastic and crazy; it seems to have never been built. Perhaps it was just too much for New England. The plan shows a fully realized Indian facade. There are two projecting side bays with windows that have strong Bristol house like lambrequins and tracery. There are balconies on the second floor with equally complex windows. The bays are topped by very Indian looking projecting brackets and a wide eave. The central bay is a tour de force and seems to recall the entrance to the Taj Mahal. It is recessed behind the bays. There is a two story arch that creates a deep recess. The arch frame is paneled and topped by a huge cresting and small finials that resemble tiny minarets. The recess has paneling covering the wall surface (the play of volumes, panels, projections, and recesses is quite masterful) a circular window and a horseshoe arched window with a balcony. The door follows, paradoxically, the Greek Revival sidelight style, but the door and windows have lambrequins and tracery that mark it as distinctively Indian.

Both the Ellsworth house and the plan are bold, and they represent the taking of Indian Italianate to its logical conclusion of looking truly Indian, a feat that Eidlitz' Iranistan was able to achieve. The examples that survive are relatively tame by comparison. It is in these types that we can see Indian Italianate at its most exuberant and most out of control. It's not surprising that this house and plan found few imitators.

The Henry Z. Pratt House, Hartford, CT

The Henry Z. Pratt House, Hartford, CT. 1847 Photo: Samuel Taylor Col.

The Henry Z. Pratt house which stood on Washington Avenue in Hartford, once a street of mansions that is now mostly parking lots and government buildings, was probably designed by Henry Austin in 1847, a few years after the Willis Bristol house. Although most of the Indian Italianates we have looked at have followed the Bristol plan, this house is somewhat different. Some of Austin's drawings survive for a house similar to this, and though it is very likely that they depict the designs for this house, it is uncertain whether he was the direct designer. The drawings appear below and are from Yale University.

The Pratt house is a symmetrical plan villa like those of the Bristol type. The body of the house is similar, covered with stucco, with paired brackets, simple window surrounds, lacy iron balconies, and a low monitor. the unique feature of this house is the massive two story chhattri porch, which gives a completely different feel to the facade. The porch has particularly leafy versions of the candelabra columns in which the supporting urn, the lower shaft, and the capital are all covered with foliage. A bizarrely large echinus (the flat part above a capital) is a strange feature. The four point arch is scalloped, but the ends of each scallop have trefoil designs, which suggest Gothic architecture. Gothis is also suggested in the spandrels where elongated trefoil cut outs fill the space. The double s-curve brackets are very sinuous on this example. Another strange feature is that the frieze of the porch is open between the brackets, creating a very airy porch that is not as dark as it could be. The front of the house features a patio that runs the length of the house. The balustrade pictured makes me think that it might be later, but the patio could be original since it was once a more common feature than it is now.

The drawings of Austin show a house somewhat different. The main variation is the extra ornament, especially the eared moldings around the windows, a specialty of Austin, and the leafy ornaments all over, including above the window cornices and the scroll saw supports on top of the cupola. If these do represent two designs for the Pratt house, it seems that the fantastic porch was already enough for the family, and they dispensed with the extras to prevent the house from being overwhelming. Austin's design show no balconies on the house as well. Perhaps he added them in because of the popularity of the Bristol type. A lot can happen to a house between design and finish. This represents the second variety of Indian Italianate, but there is a very poorly attested third I will look at in my next post.

The B. F. Young House, Bath, NY

The B. F. Young house, Bath, NY. 1850s

This is the B. F. Young house at 220 Liberty Street in Bath, NY, a town famous for its fine Italianate homes. The house was designed in the early 1850s by Merwin Austin, whose work we saw in the Brewster house in Rochester, for B. F. Young, an agent for the Pulteney land office. It's another example of Henry Austin's Indian Italianate that was brought to upstate New York by his brother. This house is an interesting example of the style because, unlike the other examples, it is sided with clapboard rather than stucco. The house has all the pieces of the style. There is a chhattri porch with an elaborate scalloped arch, large brackets, candelabra columns of the common variety, and arabesques. The brackets on the main cornice are paired without an entablature, and there are small brackets running between the longer ones. The windows in this house differ from other examples, following a much more traditional style (with a molding surround topped by a cornice) than other Indian Italianates, which often have no window surround. Elaborate wooden balconies are attached to each of the front windows, which seems to be essential to this style. The house has a wooden monitor on the roof. There seem to have been a few changes to the house; originally there was a balustrade atop the porch, and the front doors are a particularly poor replacement. I believe the house is now a double house.

The Erastus Brainerd Jr. House, Portland, CT

The Erastus Brainerd House, Portland, CT. 1852

I know the picture of this house covered in overgrown vines and trees might suggest a glamorously abandoned southern mansion, but it is actually near the center of downtown Portland, CT. My friend, pictured above, and I wandered onto the property so that he could gather information on the house for a project, so I got these pictures. The Erastus Brainerd house in Portland is another fascinating Indian Italianate, but it is also one in peril. Built in 1852 as a symmetrical plan house, probably by Henry Austin, the originator of this style in the US, the Brainerd house exhibits many of the characteristics associated with this style and found in the Bristol house in New Haven. Brainerd was the son of a quarry owner, an important role in a town which revolved around its famous brownstone quarries. Interestingly, Brainerd decided not to build out of brownstone, preferring the exotic Indian style.

It has a very large chhattri porch with an unscalloped ogee arch, candelabra columns, long s curve brackets, arabesque strapwork, and multi-foil piercings in the spandrels. A very cool aspect to the porch is that the arabesques are continued on the inside. These types of candelabra columns, with the lotus base, fluted shaft, and dripping echinus (the flat piece at the top of the column) sitting atop a plinth with chamfered edges, are an example of the standard design of candelabra columns in Connecticut houses. The door follows Greek Revival precedents with sidelights and a transom. The bulk of the house is like the Bristol house, stuccoed with iron balconies, a wide eave, paired, simple brackets, and a low roof monitor. The lacy iron balconies look original. A side wing to the left has a porch with very odd ogee arches and paired simplified candelabra columns that seem to sit on impossibly small turned bases. The rear of the house has a strange low addition with a fenestration I can't quite make sense of. There might be a strange shift in the house's floor as you near the back. The house also includes a matching carriage house.

The house was part of a hospital complex which is slated for demolition along with a lovely temple front Greek Revival house and a Stick Style home. It was used for years as an administration building and clinic, but the house seems quite sturdy and the interiors, though unused for a while, also seem intact, at least from what I saw. The plan is to demolish the houses for a CVS and condos, a travesty since both are in a registered district and since the house is a rare example of the impressive Indian Italianate style. Developers seem stymied over parking access to the site, and there even was a possibility they would tear down the house and build a simplified version elsewhere on the property with some details (a particularly bizarre plan that I can't make sense of). Fingers crossed that the plan will never go through! The following pictures show all the sides of the house and some of the interior.

The other house slated for demolition: