The Charles Daniels House is a historic house at 43 Liberty Street in

Chester, Connecticut Chester is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,749 at the 2020 census. The town center is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP). The name is a transfer from Chester, in Engla ...

. Built about 1830 for a local factory owner and moved to its present site in 1978, it is a prominent example of high-style

Greek Revival architecture 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 ...

with a temple front, possibly designed by the firm of Ithiel Town. The house 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 ...

in 1988.

Description and history

The Charles Daniels House stands in a rural-residential setting about west of Chester's village green, on the south side of Liberty Street. It is a -story

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 ...

structure, five bays wide, with a hip-roofed portico supported by paired Doric columns. Having been relocated, it rests on a replacement foundation of concrete blocks, whose exterior has been finished with the ashlar granite veneer of the original foundation. The interior is organized around a central stair hall, with a double parlor to the west and a dining room and library to the east. These principal rooms are embellished with fine woodwork, fluted pilasters, and decorative plaster mouldings. The house, built (probably in the late 1820s) for Charles Daniels, owner of a nearby gimlet factory, is an excellent example of Greek Revival domestic architecture. Its design has traditionally been ascribed, without evidence, to the

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

architecture firm of Town and Davis, one of whose principals was Ithiel Town. Nevertheless, the house is architecturally consistent with other works by Town. The house was originally located about east of its present site, nearer the site of Daniels's factory, and was threatened with demolition after years of vacancy. The architect Thomas A. Norton moved it to its present site in 1978, and in reconstructing it, retained not only the original stone of the foundation veneer, but also the original brick of the chimney stacks. and

Gallery

File:CHAS DANIELS HOUSE PLANS FL B.jpg, Basement Floor Plan of the Charles Daniels House. File:CHAS DANIELS HOUSE PLANS FL1.jpg, First Floor Plan of the Charles Daniels House. File:CHAS DANIELS HOUSE PLANS FL 2.jpg, Second Floor Plan of the Charles Daniels House.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Charles, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Chester, Connecticut Greek Revival houses in Connecticut Houses in Middlesex County, Connecticut Houses completed in 1830 National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut 1830 establishments in Connecticut

Description and history

Gallery

See also

References