The R. and F. Cheney Building, also known as the Brown Thomson Building, is a commercial building designed by noted American architect

H. H. Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

. It is located at 942 Main Street,

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

, and is now 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 ...

History

The Cheney Building was constructed 1875–1876 for the Cheney Brothers

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

manufacturers in

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester census-designated place, with a population of 36,379 at the 202 ...

. It was originally a multipurpose structure with five small shops on the ground floor, and offices and apartments above. For many years it housed Brown Thomson's department store, and later the

G. Fox and Company G. Fox & Co. was a large department store that originated in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the largest privately held department store in the nation when it was sold in 1965 to the May Department Stores Company. In 1993, May Department stores p ...

. As of 2007, it has been renamed the Richardson Building, and is now a Residence Inn by Marriott, offices, stores, restaurants, and rehearsal space for The Hartford Stage Company. The building dominates its corner location and, with towers and attic, is various described as containing five, six, or seven stories. Its facade is organized into three heavy, horizontal tiers of roughly cut, reddish

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

punctuated with much lighter Berea

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

trim. The lowest tier is defined by a series of huge round arches in striking polychrome bands, a motif repeated in the stories above at an increasingly smaller scale. The ground-floor tier on the Main Street facade features five broad arches above shop windows and doors, the second a two-story arcade of 10 major openings, and the third a single-story arcade of 14 openings. The building is crowned with low, asymmetric towers at its Main Street corners. The street corner tower was earlier topped by a pyramidal roof. The building is currently home to a local brewery known as City Steam Brewery, a Residence Inn Marriott, a Fastsigns, and a local restaurant named Pietro's Pizza.

Gallery

Image:PostcardHartfordCTMainStGFoxBuilding1905.jpg, 1905 postcard Image:RichardsonChaneyHartford.jpg, Historic image Image:Cheney Building, Hartford CT - main facade composite.jpg, Facade Image:CheneyBuildingEntry.jpg, Detail Image:CheneyBuildingEntry2.jpg, Detail Image:CheneyBuildingEntry3.jpg, Detail

References

* James Francis O'Gorman, ''Three American Architects: Richardson, Sullivan, and Wright, 1865-1915'', University of Chicago Press, 1991, page 47. . * Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ''H. H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works'', MIT Press, 1985, page 58. .
Hartford Courant article (September 25, 2005)

{{National Register of Historic Places Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Connecticut Henry Hobson Richardson buildings Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Office buildings in Connecticut Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut Department stores on the National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Hartford, Connecticut Buildings and structures completed in 1876 Historic district contributing properties in Connecticut

History

Gallery

See also

References