The Deshon-Allyn House is a historic house at 613 Williams Street in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

built in 1829 for the captain of a whaling ship and is a fine example of transitional

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

architecture. The house is now on the campus of the

Lyman Allyn Art Museum The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is located in New London, Connecticut and was founded in 1926 by Lyman Allyn's daughter Harriet Upson Allyn.

, which has used it for a variety of purposes. It 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 ...

on October 28, 1970.

Description and history

The Deshon-Allyn House is located on the campus of the

Lyman Allyn Art Museum The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is located in New London, Connecticut and was founded in 1926 by Lyman Allyn's daughter Harriet Upson Allyn.

on the east side of Williams Street, north of downtown New London. It is a large 2½-story structure built out of random-laid stone, with corner

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

s and openings framed by ashlar granite. It is covered by a truncated

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

with

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d dormers, and four brick chimneys projecting from its roof faces. The recessed entry is flanked inside the opening by

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

and sidelights, with a

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

window across the top. Above the entrance is a small

Palladian window Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

, its elements separated by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s. Many of its surviving interior features are identifiable in the publications of

Asher Benjamin Asher Benjamin (June 15, 1773July 26, 1845) was an American architect and author whose work transitioned between Federal architecture and the later Greek Revival architecture. His seven handbooks on design deeply influenced the look of cities a ...

. The house was built in 1829 for Captain Daniel Deshon, the master of a local whaling vessel, and is a particularly elegant example of late Federal architecture. It was purchased in 1851 by Lyman Allyn, also a whaling captain who greatly enlarged his fortune by investing in railroads and other businesses. The museum that now owns the house was established in his memory by his daughter.

Robert Ballard Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of ...

's Ocean Exploration Trust (founded 2008) established offices within the Deshon-Allyn House.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Connecticut College Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Federal architecture in Connecticut Houses completed in 1829 Houses in New London, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References