Oliver Ellsworth Homestead | |
Location | 778 Palisado Avenue, Windsor, Connecticut |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°52′39.87″N72°37′31.02″W / 41.8777417°N 72.6252833°W Coordinates: 41°52′39.87″N72°37′31.02″W / 41.8777417°N 72.6252833°W |
Built | 1781 |
Architect | Samuel Denslow; Thomas Hayden |
Architectural style | Georgian |
NRHP reference No. | 70000707 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 06, 1970 [1] |
Designated NHL | December 20, 1989 [2] |
The Oliver Ellsworth Homestead, also known as Elmwood, is a historic house museum at 788 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Built in 1781, it was the home of the American lawyer and politician Oliver Ellsworth until his death in 1807, and was designated a National Historic Landmark because of this association. A Founding Father of the United States, Ellsworth (1745–1807) helped draft the United States Constitution, served as the third Chief Justice of the United States, and was a United States senator from Connecticut. The house is owned and maintained and operated as a museum by the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution, and is open for tours upon request.
The Ellsworth House stands in northern Windsor, on the east side of Palisado Avenue (Connecticut Route 159), near its junction with Macktown Road. Palisado Avenue is a historically old road, originally serving as the main north–south route on the west bank of the Connecticut River.
The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade is five bays wide, with a two-bay extension to the south that is recessed beneath a shared roofline supported by Tuscan columns. The original five-bay block has end chimneys. The main entrance is at its center, sheltered by a 19th-century gabled portico. The interior retains features of the late 19th century, including furnishings and decorative materials associated with Oliver Ellsworth and his family. [3]
A house was built on this site in 1740 by David Ellsworth, and it is in that house that Oliver Ellsworth was raised. Documentary records show that Oliver Ellsworth, having inherited the property, contracted in 1781 for the construction of a new house on the site of the old, which may have reused some of its elements, including the foundation. His family moved in the following year, and it remained his home until his death in 1807. The two-bay extension to the south was added in 1788, although the roofline and Tuscan columns are a 19th-century alteration. [3]
The name Elmwood derives from the thirteen elm trees Ellsworth planted in honor of the Thirteen Colonies. Elmwood was visited by two sitting Presidents: George Washington (on October 21, 1789) and John Adams (October 3, 1799). The house was occupied by the Ellsworth family until 1903 when it was given to the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution. [4] The homestead was restored in the late 1980s and early 1990s and is now a museum. [5] The property includes a meeting hall built in the 1930s, which the DAR make available as a function and event space.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. [2] [3]
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population of Windsor was 29,492 at the 2020 census.
Elmwood, also known as the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, is a historic house and centerpiece of a National Historic Landmark District in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is known for several prominent former residents, including: Thomas Oliver (1734–1815), royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts; Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), signer of the US Declaration of Independence, Vice President of the United States and eponym of the term "gerrymandering"; and James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), noted American writer, poet, and foreign diplomat.
The Franklin Pierce Homestead is a historic house museum and state park located in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. It was the childhood home of the fourteenth president of the United States, Franklin Pierce.
The John Trumbull Birthplace, also known as the Governor Jonathan Trumbull House, is a historic house museum on the Lebanon Green in Lebanon, Connecticut. Built in 1735 by Joseph Trumbull as a wedding present for his son Jonathan (1710–1785), the house was a center of political and military strategy during the American Revolutionary War, when Jonathan Trumbull was Governor of Connecticut. It was also the birthplace of John Trumbull (1756–1843), an artist known for his depictions of the war and its people. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
The Oliver Wolcott House is a historic colonial home at South Street near Wolcott Avenue in Litchfield, Connecticut. It was built in 1753 by Founding Father Oliver Wolcott Sr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and a state militia leader in the American Revolutionary War. It is the oldest house in the borough. It was the home of Oliver Wolcott Sr. (1726–1797), and is where his son Oliver Wolcott Jr., was born. Many distinguished guests visited the Wolcott House, including Lafayette and George Washington, who stayed there in 1780 during his first visit to Litchfield. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971. It is located on South Street, nearly opposite to Wolcott Avenue. The house is not open to the public.
The Huntington Homestead, also known as the Samuel Huntington Birthplace, is a historic house museum and National Historic Landmark at 36 Huntington Road in Scotland, Connecticut. Built in the early 18th century, it was the birthplace and boyhood home of Samuel Huntington (1731–1796), an American statesman and Founding Father. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence. He also served as Governor of Connecticut and was the first presiding officer of the Congress of the Confederation, the first central government of the United States of America.
The Hezekiah Chaffee House is a historic house museum on Meadow Lane in Windsor, Connecticut. Built about 1765, it is one of Windsor's largest and most elaborate Georgian brick houses. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and is a contributing property to the Palisado Avenue Historic District, listed in 1987. It is owned and operated by the Windsor Historic Society, which offers tours on a year-round basis.
The First Church in Windsor, Connecticut is the oldest Congregational church in Connecticut. Its origin can be traced back to 1630, when 140 men and women sailed out of Plymouth, England on the Mary & John. This was the first of 17 ships in the so-called Winthrop Fleet, bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. When they heard from the Indians about the fertile land along the Connecticut River in what is now called the Connecticut River Valley, a small contingent of settlers travelled southwest and established the first settlement in Connecticut at Windsor in 1633. Word soon spread that Windsor was a good place in which to settle: in 1635, the congregation of the First Church departed from their homes in Dorchester, Massachusetts to relocate to Connecticut.
This is a list of National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven, Connecticut.
The First Church Parsonage is a historic parsonage house at 160 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Built in 1852 for the new minister of the First Congregational Church, it is a well-preserved example of transitional Greek Revival-Italianate architecture in brick. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Oliver Ellsworth was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, jurist, politician, and diplomat. Ellsworth was a framer of the United States Constitution, United States senator from Connecticut, and the third chief justice of the United States. Additionally, he received 11 electoral votes in the 1796 presidential election.
The Bissell Tavern or Bissell's Stage House is a historic traveler's accommodation at 1022 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Now a private residence, it was built in 1796, and served in the 19th century as a stagecoach stop along the main route between Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The Taylor Chapman House is a historic house at 407 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Built in 1764, it is a well-preserved example of Georgian architecture executed in brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Horace H. Ellsworth House is a historic house at 316 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. It was built in 1872 for one of Windsor's leading citizens, and is a fine example of Italianate architecture executed in brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
736 Palisado Avenue is one of a small number of Second Empire houses in Windsor, Connecticut. Built about 1865, it is a distinctive surviving example of the style in brick, with a mansard roof and turret. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Henry Magill House is a historic house at 390 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Built in 1861, it is a well-preserved and locally rare example of Second Empire architecture executed in brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Patrick Murphy House is a historic house at 345 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Built about 1873, it is a good example of Italianate architecture executed in brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Palisado Avenue Historic District encompasses a predominantly residential streetscape in northeastern Windsor, Connecticut. Extending along Palisado Avenue between the Farmington River and Bissell Ferry Road, it is a basically 18th-century street view, populated mainly with houses from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Sophia Sweetland House is a historic house at 458 Palisado Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut. Built about 1845, it is a good local example of transitional Greek Revival-Italianate architecture executed in brick. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
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(help). Accompanying photos, exterior and interior, from 1967, 1989 and undated. (2.55 MB)