FIGURE 40. A. J. Davis, Harral-Wheeler House, Bridgeport, 1846–1850, demolished 1958. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Image #MAH-61190
Beginning in the 1890s a reaction set in, in the form of a trend toward more disciplined design. It still remained possible to choose from among a variety of sources, including Old English, the French Beaux-Arts, Italian, and others. But instead of mixing historical sources in a single building, architects replicated designs of the past more precisely, as seen in suburban streets such as those of New Haven’s Beaver Hills neighborhood (place 21).
In the hands of a skilled designer, the combination of modern planning and historic imagery could produce a masterpiece. Nowhere in Connecticut is this better seen than in Yale University’s great rebuilding of the 1920s and ’30s. In order to convert to a system of residential colleges, Yale demolished entire blocks for new construction (figure 42). Most of this was the work of architect James Gamble Rogers, who gave his designs careful craftsmanship and details, as well as an illusion of development over centuries that evoked Britain’s Oxford and Cambridge universities. Rogers skillfully and subtly wove the new Yale into the city, following existing street patterns and aligning gates or towers to focus views from all parts of New Haven. By the mid-1930s Yale had established an architectural image of a quality and consistency that few American universities could match, though many tried.18
FIGURE 41. Prospect Hill, Willimantic. Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation
One historic style came to define Connecticut, both in its own eyes and in those of outsiders: the Colonial Revival, which drew on the state’s own heritage and consciousness of its history. As early as the 1850s, members of Hartford’s Fourth Congregational Church found inspiration in colonial buildings (place 81), but widespread enthusiasm for the movement began in the 1870s, when celebrations of the centennial of the American Revolution focused attention on the nation’s history and architecture. Elements of “Colonial” design (the term could cover anything built from the seventeenth century up to, and sometimes including, Greek Revival) first appeared as part of the late nineteenth-century eclectic mix, but by the twentieth century, designs more faithfully resembled colonial buildings, reinterpreted to suit modern lifestyles (figure 43).
Paralleling the use of period styles was a strain of nonhistorical design, beginning with the Arts and Crafts movement. In reaction to industrialization, Arts and Crafts promoters stressed hand-craftsmanship as an antidote to impersonal mass production. While its principles could be applied to historic styles, the American branch of the movement is chiefly associated with rustic buildings characterized by chunky forms and materials left in their natural state (see the Nathaniel R. Bronson House, place 20).
FIGURE 42. James Gamble Rogers, Harkness Tower, Yale University, New Haven, 1917–1921. Robert W. Grzywacz
In the 1920s and ’30s, nonhistorical design took another form in the stylized motifs of the closely related Art Deco and Art Moderne, as seen in the Warner Theatre (place 45), or in streamlined interpretations of historical styles, as seen in New London’s Post Office (figure 44) with its abstracted pilasters and low-relief carvings. More radical was European Modernism, which eschewed ornament altogether and promoted rationalism in planning. Introduced to Connecticut in the 1930s through such buildings as Ansonia High School (place 66), Modernism did not become a major design force in the state until after World War II.
Underlying stylistic changes, advances in materials and technology moved along in a parallel path. Here industry played a direct role, with Connecticut’s factories developing and making materials and products that changed American architecture (figure 45). Russell & Erwin in New Britain and Sargent in New Haven manufactured hardware, and Bigelow Boiler, also in New Haven, made giant boilers for central heating. Wire screening came from Gilbert & Bennett in the Georgetown section of Redding, Lincrusta embossed wall coverings from Stamford, and brick from Windsor and North Haven. Lumber mills in nearly every city supplied the mass-produced trim that both reflected the taste for ornamentation and by reducing costs made it possible to indulge that taste. One Connecticut product found all across the country was iron-truss bridges from the Berlin Iron Bridge Company (place 12).
FIGURE 43. 44 Center Street, Windsor Locks, 1929. Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation
FIGURE 44. Payne & Keefe, United States Post Office, New London, 1933. Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation
FIGURE 45. Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, New Britain, door hinge, patented 1880. Collection of the New Britain Industrial Museum
Architecture became professionalized during this period. In 1840 Connecticut had only a handful of professional architects. Self-proclaimed and self-qualified, they learned construction through apprenticeship with a master builder and design from pattern books, producing works like the Indian-inspired Willis Bristol House (place 70).19 By 1900, architects in every city in the state were producing designs for institutional and commercial buildings and fashionable houses. Less well known was that they also designed factories and even the double-decker houses and tenements of working-class neighborhoods. Many were professionally trained—Yale established its architecture department in 1916—although many others still learned through apprenticeship.
FIGURE 46. Fletcher-Thompson Inc., Bridgeport. Drafting room, ca. 1955. Fletcher-Thompson Inc.
By 1930, the increasing size and complexity of construction meant that some architectural firms, such as the offices of Douglas Orr in New Haven or Fletcher-Thompson in Bridgeport, now had dozens of employees (figure 46). Firms from nearby New York and Boston also worked in Connecticut, exposing local clients and builders to big-city influences.
The second half of the nineteenth century also saw the emergence of other building-related professions. Connecticut native Frederick Law Olmsted is well known as the father of landscape architecture in the United States. His firm, although based in Massachusetts, worked extensively in the state, designing parks in Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury, and New Britain, as well as campuses and estates. Landscape architecture provided opportunities to women, and Connecticut has works by national leaders such as Beatrix Farrand (notably at Eolia, place 3), as well as by local designers, including Marian Coffin of New Haven. Not surprisingly, industrial design and construction became a needed specialty for some architectural and engineering firms in the Northeast. The most prominent, such as Boston’s Lockwood Greene, were located outside Connecticut, but in-state firms such as Fletcher-Thompson of Bridgeport also developed industrial expertise.
Connecticut’s third century—its industrial era—created the urbanized, industrialized, diverse state that we know today. Despite the state’s colonial image and the overwhelming development of the post–World War II period, a large proportion of Connecticut’s architecture dates from this era. It reflects a people
