The Ambrose Whittlesey House is a historic house at 14 Main Street in

Old Saybrook, Connecticut Old Saybrook is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,481 at the 2020 census. It contains the incorporated borough of Fenwick, as well as the census-designated places of Old Saybrook Center and Saybro ...

that was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places 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 or "great artistic v ...

in 1985. The house was built in two sections. The first section was one story high, built in 1765, measuring by . This is now at the rear of the house. Around 1800, a two-story main block measuring by was added. The main block has a relatively plain facade, but it has a

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Hano ...

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

to accent it. The columns holding up the portico are consistent with Georgian proportions, but the

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...

over the door is more related to

Federal architecture Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

in style and design. The interior of the 1800 section of the house is generally consistent with Federal-style architecture. This section contains a massive center chimney, dating back to

Colonial architecture Colonial architecture is an architectural style from a mother country that has been incorporated into the buildings of settlements or colonies in distant locations. Colonists frequently built settlements that synthesized the architecture of their ...

in its simplicity. The chimney contains

flue A flue is a duct, pipe, or opening in a chimney for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, furnace, water heater, boiler, or generator to the outdoors. Historically the term flue meant the chimney itself. In the United States, they are al ...

s for six

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

s, three on each floor. The house has architectural influences indicating a transition between

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...

and

. There are only a few such buildings remaining in this section of Old Saybrook. The actual identification of architectural styles is complicated by the mix of elements such as the large central chimney, reminiscent of colonial-period architecture; the Georgian-style portico, and the Federal-style detailing in the interior. Since there are few other Georgian-style details in the house, it appears likely that the portico was added later. The owner, Ambrose Whittlesey, was the great-great-grandson of John Whittlesey, who was an early settler of the

Saybrook Colony The Saybrook Colony was an English colony established in late 1635 at the mouth of the Connecticut River in present-day Old Saybrook, Connecticut by John Winthrop, the Younger, son of John Winthrop, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. ...

in the 17th century. The Whittlesey family was involved in farming, the merchandise trade, and shipbuilding. Ambrose started his career as a sea captain at age 21, trading with the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. He later went on to voyages to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

after the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. When he died in 1827, his house was inherited by his youngest son, also named Ambrose, although his mother had an

encumbrance An encumbrance is a third party's right to, interest in, or legal liability on property that does not prohibit the property's owner from transferring title (but may diminish its value). Encumbrances can be classified in several ways. They may be f ...

on the property until her death in 1838. In 1839, his surviving siblings granted him full ownership via a

quitclaim deed Generally, a quitclaim is a formal renunciation of a legal claim against some other person, or of a right to land. A person who quitclaims renounces or relinquishes a claim to some legal right, or transfers a legal interest in land. Originally a c ...

. The house remained in the Whittlesey family until 1967. and

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1765 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Houses in Old Saybrook, Connecticut Georgian architecture in Connecticut Federal architecture in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut

See also

References