The Windsor House is a historic former hotel building at 54 Main Street in
Windsor, Vermont. Built in 1836, it was for many years a mainstay of the village's travel industry, whose famous guests include
Theodore Roosevelt. Now converted to other commercial purposes, the building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Description and history
The Windsor House stands near the center of Windsor village, on the west side of Main Street north of its junction with State Street. It is a -story brick building, with a gabled roof, and a projecting two-story flat-roofed portico supported by six fluted Doric columns. The front facade is six bays wide, with a four-bay row of windows in the gable, topped by a Federal style fan.
[ with ]
Windsor House was built on the site of an older hostelry, which had itself achieved a measure of renown as a place visited by the
Marquis de Lafayette in 1825. The present structure was built in 1836, during a high point in the town's economic prosperity, and served for many years as a prominent hotel, hosting
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...
and other notables.
[ Closed in the early 1970s, it has since been repurposed into a commercial retail space.
Under Innkeeper J. H. Simonds, Windsor House employed a number of freemen - former slaves and the children of former slaves - including Joseph Little, the son of freed slaves Fortune Little and Lorancy Little née Tanner, who worked as a porter at the hotel and Civil War veteran Private Henry Parks of the ]54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
The 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was the second African-American regiment, following the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry ...
who worked as a groom.[United States Federal Census Year: 1850; Census Place: Windsor, Windsor, Vermont; Roll: M432_931; Page: 353B; Image: 308; Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Windsor County, Vermont
References
{{NRHP in Windsor County, Vermont
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windsor County, Vermont
Hotel buildings completed in 1836
Buildings and structures in Windsor, Vermont