The Suffield Historic District is a
historic district encompassing the Main Street area of the town center of
Suffield, Connecticut
Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. As of the 2020 census, ...
, USA. 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 ...
in 1979
[ and is part of a larger local historic district. It runs along North and South Main Street from Muddy Brook to north of Mapleton Avenue, and includes a diversity of 18th through early 20th-century architecture.
]
Description and history
The northern Connecticut town of Suffield was settled in 1670 and incorporated in 1684, and has been a basically agricultural community well into the 20th century. Main Street lots were laid out with comparatively narrow frontage, on which taxation was based, but the lots were generally wide enough to accommodate construction of several homes. In the early 19th century, tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
was introduced, and the town's fortunes grew with that lucrative crop. A private boarding school, now called Suffield Academy, was established just north of the town center in 1833, contributing to the center's architectural heritage and economic vibrancy. The town's north-south Main Street is architecturally reflective of this pattern of development, generally lacking in large commercial or industrial development and thus retaining the character of a typical New England village center.[ and ]
The historic district extends for of Main Street, with rough boundaries to the east and west of , adjusted in some places for property lines. The architecture outside the central junction is generally residential and of high quality, although architect-designed buildings are relatively uncommon. Institutional buildings near the town center include the Greek Revival Baptist church, the Romanesque Revival Congregational church and the former Kent Memorial Library building, designed by Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
and now owned by Suffield Academy. The library is now in one of the district's few Modern buildings, built in 1972 to a design by Hartford architect Warren Platner.
Buildings separately listed on the National Register that are located within the district include the 1762 Hatheway House
The Hatheway House, also known as the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden is a historic house museum at 55 South Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut. The sprawling house has sections built as early as 1732, with significant alterations made in 1795 ...
and the 1764 Alexander King House, both of which are 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 ...
s.[
]
See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut
Colonial architecture in Connecticut
Greek Revival architecture in Connecticut
Victorian architecture in Connecticut
Suffield, Connecticut
Historic districts in Hartford County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut