USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > New Haven, a book recording the varied activities of the author in his efforts over many years to promote the welfare of the city of his adoption since 1883, together with some researches into its storied past and many illustrations > Part 23
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Memorial Public Library building. This house was built by "Squire" Simeon Bristol of Hamden for his son, William Bristol, afterwards a Judge of our Superior and Supreme Courts, a Judge of the United States Court for the District of Connecticut, and a Member of Congress. In 1805 Hoadley built in Waterbury a house for Judge John Kingsbury, grand- father of the venerable Hon. Frederick John Kingsbury of the present day. In 1813 Hoadley was invited to New Haven to build the United Church, which was finished in 1815-his master work and a work of which any architect might be proud.91 At the same time Hoadley was finishing the Congre- gational Church in Norfolk. This has undergone some unfor- tunate changes and mutilations, but it remains to-day one of the finest designs of its kind in the State. About 1815 Hoadley was employed by the Hon. Nathan Smith in build- ing what this generation had known as the "Edwards House," perhaps the most admired private residence in New Haven. In 1819-1821 he built an "elegant mansion" for "Don David Cortez DeForest," who broke in upon the "academic calm" of New Haven life at about that time. If "Don" DeForest was not a pirate, or at least in cahoots with pirates, it was not because his neighbors and fellow-citizens did not do their best to give him that character. This house in its exterior design, by the "Don's" order, followed "Hoppin's Folly" in Provi- dence, a beautiful house designed by John Holden Green, the noted self-taught carpenter-architect of that region. Hoadley supplied the design for the Congregational Church in Milford, built in 1823. This was followed by the Professor Kingsley house on Temple Street, now occupied by Henry T. Blake. This was built in 1824-25. Between 1824 and 1827 he built
91 At the annual meeting of the United Society, held in the State House November 29, 1815, after passing a vote of thanks to the committee under whose supervision the "New Brick Meeting House" was erected, it was- "Voted, that David Hoadley, the Architect employed in the erection of said House, merits the approbation of this Society for the substantial, elegant and workmanlike manner in which he has performed his contract, and that he be recommended to the public for his skill and fidelity in his profession."
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the "Tontine Coffee House," for which a design seems to have been furnished by Ithiel Town, though whether the design of Town was used or not is not clear. Hoadley was the builder, at any rate, and seems always to have been credited with being both designer and builder. I have met with no instance where Hoadley was employed to build from designs by Town, who commonly built his own designs. The Tontine may have been an exception. A careful examination of the Tontine records might determine the point. They show at least that Town was paid $50.00 for drawing a plan.92 It is claimed also that Hoadley designed and built the Jonas Blair Bowditch house, still standing on Orange Street. Hoadley also designed and built the Dexter house on Church Street, now known as the Law Chambers, and a great farm house (now demolished) for Colonel Daniel Beecher at Naugatuck. The Russell mansion on High Street, Middletown, was, as I judge, Hoadley's last important design. This house, completed in 1828, has happily escaped alterations and is to-day perhaps the most notable piece of domestic architecture in its locality. Hoadley must also be credited with the design of the Episcopal Church in Bethany and the Darius Beecher house in the same town. Hoadley ultimately returned to Waterbury, where he died in July, 1839. An obelisk inscribed "D. Hoadley"- nothing more-marks his grave. But the United Church is his real monument, even as Center Church is the real monu- ment of Ithiel Town. Bronson, in his "History of Water- bury," said of Hoadley: "As a self-taught architect, Mr. Hoadley had few superiors. He broke down, however, while still in the vigor of manhood and returned to Waterbury to spend the remnant of his days. He had a sound judgment, a well-balanced mind and a generous and honest heart." An
92 The Company was incorporated in 1824 and between that date and 1827 the Tontine Coffee House was built. Ithiel Town was paid fifty dollars for drawing the plans. A lease was made to Drake & Andrews at $750 for the first year. The building then contained a Masonic Lodge Room and a ball room on the upper floor. In 1831 the basement was fitted up for the post office which later was moved to Chapel and Union streets. Bassett's "New Haven Almanac for the Year 1910."
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estimate of Hoadley as a designer is without the compass of this notice. But I may say that his work was not academic or "bookish" (though he taught himself from books), but was vigorous and free-Georgian rather than Italian in feeling; his designs were appropriate and graceful and his details were always elegant and refined in character and in scale. With no such advantages of education and travel as had Town, Hoadley surpassed him in refinement and taste, though Town was tech- nically a better designer and secured a more monumental effect. But Town had greater opportunities. His designs were generally for masonry buildings, while Hoadley's designs were generally for execution in wood. Town and Hoadley were born within a decade of each other; both were sons of farmers ; both began life as house-carpenters; both were build- ers as well as designers; one was wholly self-taught and the other largely so; and both surpassed any work that has since been done in the State, at least by native designers.
When in 1915, the one hundredth anniversary of the build- ing of the United Church on New Haven Green is celebrated, I hope that a memorial tablet to Hoadley may be placed in the vestibule, and that it may bear an inscription something like this :
"To the Memory of David Hoadley, the Designer and Builder of this Church. Self-taught, he rose to be one of the foremost architects of his day. Born in Waterbury, 1774, he died there 1839. He had a sound judgment, a well balanced mind, and a generous and honest heart."
NOTE: It was the writer's privilege to place in the vestibule of the church a tablet designed by the late Henry Charles Dean of Boston, executed in Vermont slate and bearing the follow- ing inscription :
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TO THE MEMORY OF DAVID HOADLEY
DESIGNER & BUILDER OF THIS HOUSE ANNº DOM 1813-1815 SELF-TAUGHT HE ROSE TO BE ONE OF THE FOREMOST ARCHITECTS OF HIS TIME. HE WAS FOR MANY YEARS A RESIDENT OF NEW HAVEN WHICH HE GREATLY ENRICHED WITH HIS GENIUS AN ATTEND ANT UPON THE SERVICES OF THIS CHURCH BORN IN WATERBURY I774 HE DIED THERE 1839
"He had a sound judgment a well balanced mind and a generous and honest heart"
This tablet is placed here A". D°. 1915 by an admirer of his art.
Voted, That the thanks of the United Society be given to Mr. George Dudley Seymour for his generosity and thoughtfulness in placing in the vestibule of the church a tablet to the memory of David Hoadley the archi- tect, on the centennial of the dedication of the building. (Vote passed May 10, 1916.)
Waterbury, where Hoadley was born and where he began his notable career, retains unfortunately no example of his art and still lacks a memorial to him though now enriched by several designs by Cass Gilbert and a statue of Franklin by Paul Wayland Bartlett, a native of New Haven. The writer hopes that his repeated efforts to induce the Water- bury public authorities to erect a tablet to Hoadley in its beautiful new City Hall (designed by Mr. Gilbert) may bear fruit. (G. D. S. 1921.)
XVIII
SIDNEY MASON STONE: 1803-1882: HOUSE- CARPENTER; MASTER-BUILDER; ARCHITECT.
Sidney Mason Stone was born in Milford, Connecticut, August 3rd, 1803. He came to New Haven as a young man and worked as a house-carpenter. He soon became a master- builder and was so engaged for ten or fifteen years. During this period he built St. Paul's Church (1829-1830) as a Chapel of Ease for Trinity Church; the Doric structure ( 1832) form- ing the nucleus of the Connecticut General Hospital; the Sol- omon Collis house on Wooster Street, long the residence of Mayor Harry G. Lewis; the "Elizabethan Gothic" Gerard Hallock house at City Point, and the house on Crown Street long owned and occupied by Caleb B. Bowers, but built for the Rev. Harry G. Croswell, for forty years Rector of Trinity Church.
After working ten years or so as a master-builder and con- tractor, Stone determined to devote himself exclusively to the business of an architect, preparing drawings and specifications and superintending work in behalf of the owner. To better qualify himself for this work he took a short course of study at the New York University-there was not for many years after this time a school of architecture in the entire country. According to Atwater's "History" he began to work as an architect in 1833. In an appendix to his "History of the Arts of Design in the United States" (N. Y., 1834) Dunlop says : "Mr. Stone of New Haven, a promising young architect, is just rising to notice in that city." Ithiel Town was still practising, but probably by this time Town's time was largely diverted from New Haven to his New York office. Austin did not open his office until 1837. It is more than likely that Stone's career as a master-builder overlapped into his career as an architect.
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To what extent he designed the work he constructed prior to 1833, cannot now be determined,-probably most of it, bar- ring St. Paul's Church. Mrs. Tuthill, in her "History of Architecture," puts him down as the designer of the Gerard Hallock house as stated. Stone designed a great number of buildings, including, it is said, over one hundred churches. No record was kept of these designs, as far as I am aware. After his death, an immense pile of his drawings was sold for old paper. I think, therefore, that there is no material in existence for compiling a complete list of his designs, even if that were important. I am enabled, however, to give a suffi- cient list to indicate the character and the range of his work, though I am not able to place the designs in chronological order. That task must be left to some other investigator, if it be thought worth the while.
Among the churches designed by Mr. Stone, the following may be mentioned: Third Congregational Church on Court Street (1841), sold in 1856 for use as a Hebrew synagogue by the Mishkan Israel Congregation; The Third Congregational Church on Church Street (1856), a brownstone fabric in a pseudo Norman style, remodeled in 1890 by Clarence H. Still- son, for use as a Public Library; Mr. Stillson removed the original tower and replaced it by a tower of greatly inferior design; The College Street Church (1850), one of the most successful of Mr. Stone's designs; The Wooster Place Con- gregational Church, built largely through the efforts of Hon. Chauncey Jerome; this congregation was soon disbanded, and the church bought by the First Baptist Society and long known as the First Baptist Church; its site is now occupied by an Italian church; The South Church (1851), also known as the Gerard Hallock Church; this was subsequently exten- sively remodeled and is now known as the Church of the Sacred Heart. To this list St. Patrick's Church on Grand Avenue should be added. Mr. Stone also built the Congrega- tional Church in West Haven, a dignified design; the Congre- gational Church in Essex, and the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio. He built the New Haven Orphan Asylum, New Haven Alms House, New Haven County Jail
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and the State Reform School in Meriden. Among other dwelling houses in New Haven, he designed the Pelatiah Perit house on Hillhouse Avenue, now occupied by Henry L. Hotch- kiss; the greatly admired Thomas Trowbridge house on Elm Street, facing the Green; the Ezekiel Trowbridge house on Temple Street, now to be converted into a chapel for Center Church, and the Roger Sherman Baldwin house on Church Street, for many years occupied by Governor Baldwin's daugh- ter, Mrs. William Dwight Whitney. This is only a partial list.
Mr. Stone remodeled the interior of the United Church in 1850, and designed the present highly ornate rosewood pul- pit,93 which so completely takes the place of the altar of the "primitive church" that before it one is led to exclaim with Matthew Arnold: "O, the protestantism of Protestantism, and the dissidence of Dissent."
Mr. Stone was a man of marked executive ability, and not only carried on a large business, first as a master-builder and then as an architect, but engaged in real estate operations, not only in New Haven, but also in Meriden, and accumulated a considerable fortune. He was for a long number of years one of the most prominent members of the New Haven Grays and served that command as its Captain. After his death a great volume of his drawings was destroyed as already stated. His working library was sold as being of no particular value, while a few architectural books, evidently purchased at the sale of the library of Ithiel Town in New Haven in 1844, were kept by his family. This small collection included two superb large volumes of the works of Sir William Chambers. His drawings, if they could have been preserved, together with his working library, would have been invaluable to the future historian of the progress of building and architecture in the United States, since Mr. Stone is to be ranked as a self-taught architect, who learned the trade of house-carpenter, who moved on from that to take contracts as a master-builder, and
93 This pulpit remains a monument to the craftmanship of John N. San- ford, a stairbuilder, who executed it from Stone's designs. He lived where Mr. Frederick Thornton Hunt now lives, on the corner of Trumbull and Lincoln Streets.
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who finally became a prominent and admirable designer by careful attention to the handbooks which took the place in the early days of American architecture of schools of architectural design.
Stone seems to have studied the classical models to advan- tage; his work in the classical style was creditable, if not nota- ble. He had a good sense of scale, his designs were well balanced and had a solidity of effect which the architect of to-day often fails to secure. His design for the College Street Church was one of his best churches. His Governor Baldwin house was much admired and widely copied. He died in New Haven, August, 1882.
I daresay that an architect of our day, trained in the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and "finished" at the American Academy at Rome, would find little to praise in the work of our carpenter-architects-Town, Hoadley, Austin and Stone- barring always the Center and old North Church designs. They would criticise the work of these men as faulty in design. But it is doubtful if the architects of to-day-the schoolmen- will ever surpass, while few will equal, the men of long ago in solidity of effect. The reason is not far to seek. The older men were first of all builders of buildings in stone and brick and timber, while the men of to-day are first of all builders of "houses of cards," builders of houses on paper. It thus appears that the carpenter-architects had one advantage, at least, over their school-trained successors-an advantage, moreover, which led them to excel in solidity of effect, one of the greatest qualities of all architectural work. The work of our New Haven men of the old time illustrates this point and enforces it. Furthermore, the work of the self-taught man was rarely bizarre or strained. They did not attempt to invent new styles, or by combining all styles to produce striking effects. Hence in sobriety and dignity of effect, they often surpassed their successors who had the advantages of training in the schools. A comparison here in New Haven between the work of the self-taught men of half a century and more ago and recent work, supports this view.
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COLONEL JOHN TRUMBULL AND HIS WELL-KEPT SECRET.
Col. John Trumbull, the painter, may be admitted into our little gallery of New Haven architects with his design of the small gallery erected by Yale College, in 1831, to contain his paintings. It is written that "the artist himself designed the building, the plan of which included a crypt for his own remains." As became a painter of his period and school, he took an active interest in architecture, and made a number of designs, some of which the writer once saw. In his "Reminiscences," Trumbull claims to have been responsible for the retention of the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington as originally designed. So far as the writer is aware, the Trumbull Gallery, long known as "The Treasury," is the only design of Trumbull's ever executed. His remains, with those of his wife, at first interred in the crypt beneath the Gallery, were subsequently removed to a vault beneath the Art School. The original tablet bears the following inscription :
Col. John Trumbull Patriot & Artist, Friend & Aid of Washington A.E. 88 He reposes in a Sepulcher Built by himself, beneath This Monu- mental Gallery, where in Sept., 1834, He deposited the remains of Sarah his wife who died in N. Y. April 12, 1824, A.E. 51 To his country he gave his Sword and his Pencil.
Few people, as they daily pass the Yale School of the Fine Arts, realize that under it repose the ashes of Col. John Trumbull and his Lady, to whom he was married in England in 1800. She was a creature of sur- passing beauty, to whom he was devoted as long as she lived, but the secret of her birth he kept and it died with him. Not even a member of his own family ever knew who she was.
I got some details of this story from the artist's grandniece, Miss Jane Lathrop Trumbull, during a call I made upon her not long before her death. Though born in the forepart of the last century, she was still unquenchably vivacious in the second decade of this century. Some remark of mine pressed the spring of memory and she had begun a story about "Uncle John," told so naturally (as though Uncle John were in the next room) that I did not realize at first that "Uncle John" about whom she was talking was none other than Colonel John Trumbull, the portrait painter, aide-de-camp of Washington, and one of the foremost figures of our epic age. She remembered him well, though she was but a little girl at the time of his death. Her father, John Mason Trumbull, himself a grandson of the first Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, had gone to London to join his Uncle John, who proposed to make an artist of his namesake. This project failed, but the nephew brought home the story of his uncle's marriage. Miss Trumbull related this story as derived from her father. As the story ran, Sir Joshua and other friends urged Colonel Trumbull to marry. At length Colonel Trumbull told these solicitous gentlemen that if they would come to a certain church in London at a day and hour named, he would introduce them to Mrs. Trumbull. They agreed and met in the
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church as directed. As they waited within, a mean vehicle, described as for all the world like a "green grocer's cart," drew up at the church steps and a beautiful woman alighted from it. Colonel Trumbull, ready on the instant, hurried her to the altar, where they were speedily made man and wife. The gallant groom then turned to his astonished friends and intro- duced them to "Mrs. Trumbull." Her maiden name was thus concealed ! Who she was no one ever found out. She came to America with Colonel Trumbull and here she died. Some record of her marriage and her burial may lie hid in parish records in London or on this side of the water, but it is by no means certain that, if found, they would disclose her real identity or provide any key to this well-kept secret. Her portrait by her husband is one of the canvases included in the Trumbull Collection in the Yale School of the Fine Arts and represents a woman of beauty and distinction. Other portraits of her by the same hand are in existence, and it is claimed that he often introduced her head into his historical composi- tions. Colonel Trumbull himself, as tradition asserts, and as several portraits bear ample testimony, was a remarkably handsome man. A beautiful miniature of an engaging young officer in a red coat is said to represent his son. This gem of the art of the miniaturist is a cherished possession in one branch of the Trumbull family, which, as a family, has shed so much lustre on the Annals of Connecticut.
Though attended on her earthly pilgrimage by considerable pride and prejudice, Miss Trumbull could always laugh at her pride :- As a young woman she visited her uncle, the Hon. Lyman Trumbull, another distin- guished scion of the family, at Springfield, Illinois, where Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln were then living in a modest way, with fortunes looking upward perhaps, but with no hint of the tremendous part he was to play on the world's stage. During this visit Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln gave an evening party or reception, which Miss Trumbull attended with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull. When the refreshments were served there was not room enough for all to sit down except by opening a down- stairs bedroom, wherein Miss Trumbull presently found herself eating her ice cream and cake. At the time she felt this to be an indignity-that a daughter of the Trumbulls forsooth should go to a reception and be asked to eat ice cream and cake in a bedroom! In later years she recalled her discomfiture on that occasion with captivating reflections on her pride. Still later, when her Uncle Lyman was in the United States Senate, she passed some time in his Washington house, and saw something of Wash- ington society, but she was not so much given to recalling those days as those of her girlhood, when Colchester was the center of a refined and cultivated society and Bacon Academy an institution of great repute.
XIX
DAVID RUSSELL BROWN: 1831-1910: DESIGNER OF THE NEW HAVEN CITY HALL AND OLD COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
David Russell Brown was born in New Haven May 30, 1831, and died there February 21st, 1910. His father, Charles Brown, a soap maker, lived in New Haven. His mother, Lucretia Russell, was a native of North Branford. In 1847, when he was sixteen years old, he entered the employ of Henry Austin, a leading architect of New Haven at that time. In a conversation with him a few months before his death, the writer received the impression that at the time he entered Austin's office he had no definite intention of becoming an architect. He probably did duty as an office boy before he was promoted to the drawing-board. Be that as it may, he showed such aptitude for the work that some years later he was entrusted by his employer with the design for our present City Hall (1861), getting the idea, as he once told the writer, from an illustration he found in an English illustrated publi- cation devoted to architecture. The building is certainly open to criticism as a design and is badly planned; but it was at the time regarded as a remarkable performance and is admired by many to-day, probably because of the dignity of the structure, due to its size and location more than to anything else, though it has beauty of color and combines with the County Court House to produce a fine mass. The bulk of the tower and the very large window-openings, few in number, also give the building an imposing character. It has been suggested that the design for the City Hall was founded on the Town Hall at Manchester, England. I questioned Mr. Brown on the point, but he had no recollection of the name or location of the build- ing on which he founded his design, which is of course to be
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classified with Victorian Gothic. Brown worked with Mr. Austin until 1865, when he opened an office on his own account. In 1871 he designed and built the present County Court House. From 1880 to 1884 Mr. C. H. Stillson was associated with him. In 1895 he formed a partnership with Ferdinand Von Beren, which he continued until his retirement from business a few months before his death, after a creditable career of nearly sixty years as an architect. He was for many years a resident of West Haven and a communicant of Christ Church. He was instrumental in having the new church designed by Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson of New York and Boston.
Among his works, in addition to those mentioned, are the Glebe Building, Church of the Messiah, Church of the Redeemer (1870), the Insurance Building on Chapel Street, the Armory on Meadow Street, and the Connecticut Building for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. He also produced three designs for the Soldiers' Memorial, but was not successful in winning the competition. One of these was an ornate column designed to be placed at the intersection of Meadow and George streets; another a tower to be placed on East Rock, and another a Memorial Library.
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