The Hyland House Museum or Hyland–Wildman House is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at 84 Boston Road in

Guilford, Connecticut Guilford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, that borders Madison, Branford, North Branford and Durham, and is situated on I-95 and the Connecticut seacoast. The population was 22,073 at the 2020 census. History Guilfo ...

. Built in 1713, it is one of the town's best-preserved houses of that period. It has been open to the public as a museum since 1918, under the auspices of a local historic preservation group. It was added to 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 1976. The house features

Colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

-era furnishings and artifacts.

Description and history

The Hyland House is located a short way east of Guilford's central town green, on the north side of Boston Street just east of Graves Avenue. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof, stone central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade is five bays wide, with small-pane diamond-lighted windows arranged symmetrically around the center entrance. The entrance is simply framed, with a four-light transom window above. The rear roof face extends to the first floor, giving the house a classic New England

saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

profile. Its interior is noted for its decoratively chamfered

girt In architecture or structural engineering, a girt, also known as a sheeting rail, is a horizontal structural member in a framed wall. Girts provide lateral support to the wall panel, primarily, to resist wind loads. A comparable element in roof ...

s, believed to be one an early example of this type of decoration. The house has long been ascribed a construction date of about 1660, when builder George Hyland is thought to have built a house on this property. However, tree-ring dating conducted on its major timbers dates its construction to about 1713 or soon afterward, likely by the then-landowner, Isaac Parmelee.http://www.shorelinetimes.com/articles/2015/02/19/news/doc54e209fa4507d620879383.txt The house underwent an extensive restoration in 1917 by the architectural historian

Norman Isham Norman Morrison Isham (1864–1943) was a prominent architectural historian, author, and professor at Brown University and RISD. He was an ardent preservationist and a pioneer in the study of early American architecture. Biography Norman M ...

. The restoration was funded by the

Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities Historic New England, previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England ...

, now

Historic New England Historic New England, previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England a ...

References

External links

* * {{National Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1713 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Historic American Buildings Survey in Connecticut Houses in Guilford, Connecticut Saltbox architecture in Connecticut Historic house museums in Connecticut Museums in New Haven County, Connecticut Historical society museums in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New Haven County, Connecticut 1918 establishments in Connecticut 1713 establishments in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References

External links