Hartford Electric Light Company Maple Avenue Sub-Station

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Hartford Electric Light Company Maple Avenue Sub-Station
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Location 686 Maple Ave., Hartford, Connecticut
Coordinates 41°44′30″N72°41′0″W / 41.74167°N 72.68333°W / 41.74167; -72.68333 Coordinates: 41°44′30″N72°41′0″W / 41.74167°N 72.68333°W / 41.74167; -72.68333
Area 0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Built 1926 (1926)
Architect Whiton and McMahon
Architectural style Classical Revival
NRHP reference # 00000833 [1]
Added to NRHP August 11, 2000

The Hartford Electric Light Company Maple Avenue Sub-Station is a historic industrial and commercial building at 686 Maple Avenue in Hartford, Connecticut. Built in 1926, it is a fine example of Classical Revival architecture designed by noted local architects, and a reminder of the history of the area's electrification. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, [1] and has been converted into commercial use.

Hartford, Connecticut Capital of Connecticut

Hartford is the capital city of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. The city is nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World", as it hosts many insurance company headquarters and is the region's major industry. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford area of Connecticut. Census estimates since the 2010 United States Census have indicated that Hartford is the fourth-largest city in Connecticut, behind the coastal cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Contents

Description and history

The former Maple Avenue substation of the Hartford Electric Light Company stands in southern Hartford's Barry Square area, on the east side of Maple Avenue between Adelaide and Barker Streets. It is a single-story brick building, shaped in a rough parallelogram to accommodate Maple Avenue's diagonal traversal of the city street grid. Its walls are buff brick laid in common bond, and it has a five-bay front facade, articulated by projecting brick pilasters with papyrus-leaf capitals. A double-leaf door in the southernmost bay provides entry to the building, sheltered by a metal hip-roofed hood. The front facade is crowned by a stepped parapet, in which the building's original name and function are incised. [2]

Hartford Electric Light Company

The Hartford Electric Light Company (HELCO) is a defunct electrical company that was located on Pearl Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It was merged with the Connecticut Power Company in 1958 and later these became Connecticut Light & Power. Its former corporate headquarters building and main facility are in the Ann Street Historic District.

The Hartford Electric Light Company (HELCO, later merged into Connecticut Light & Power and now part of Eversource Energy) was founded in 1881, primarily to serve large industrial customers. Its service expanded, and this distribution substation was built in 1926 as part of a push to expand service more broadly into southern Hartford. The station was designed by Frank Whiton and John McMahon, Hartford-based architects. The pair designed an eclectic example of Classical Revival architecture for an otherwise utilitarian structure. [2]

Eversource Energy is a publicly traded, Fortune 500 energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts, with several regulated subsidiaries offering retail electricity, natural gas service and water service to approximately 4 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford, Connecticut Wikimedia list article

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford, Connecticut.

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