The Robert and Julia Darling House, now the Cannon Building, is a historic house at 728 Hopmeadow Street in
Simsbury, Connecticut. Built in 1927 for a local business leader, it is one of the town's largest and most distinctive examples of Colonial Revival architecture. 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 ...
in 1991.
[ It now houses professional offices.
]
Description and history
The Robert and Julia Darling House stands in the town center of Simsbury, on the east side of Hopmeadow Street, its principal thorough fare. It is just north of the Drake Hill shopping center, which stands on land formerly part of the Darling estate. It is a large two-story brick building, with a hip roof and a brownstone foundation. A two-story ell projects to the rear from its northeastern corner. The building exhibits basic symmetry in the Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
style, and has finely detailed entrances on the front-facing west, south, and in the corner created by the ell, which features a curved pavilion and porte-cochere. The interior, although it has been repurposed for office use, retains most of its original period woodwork.[ and ]
The building was erected in 1927 for Robert Darling, the chairman of the locally headquartered Ensign-Bickford Company
The Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company (formerly The Ensign-Bickford Company) is a manufacturer of hardware and energetic systems for use in spacecraft, military, and industrial applications. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ensign-Bic ...
, and his wife Julia, a granddaughter of the company founder. Both of the Darlings were locally noted for their involvement in local civic and charitable affairs. The Darling estate originally consisted of about . After Robert Darling died in 1957, his son sold the house, and it was converted to medical offices.
See also
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Robert and Julia, House
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut
Houses completed in 1927
Houses in Simsbury, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut