Hamden Homes In On Historic Houses

Over 355 private homes constructed before the Civil War are still standing In Hamden — because, as owners know, ​“old houses have good bones.”

Hamden is making a start on ensuring those homes remain standing, and the town’s history remains on display along with them.

Now, the town is choosing to formally recognize — and protect — five of those houses.

Toward that end, the Historic Properties Commission (HPC) received the go-ahead from the Legislative Council to apply for state funding in order to enter a small selection of early 1800s houses into the National Register of Historic Places.

The homes of interest include the following addresses:

• 85 West Shepard Ave., a home built in 1823 and occupied by Ebenezer Warner Jr., a sheep and cow farmer.
• 89 Hartford Turnpike, constructed in 1821, owned briefly by Eli Whitney and later bought by Eli Dickerman.
• 4016 Whitney Ave., erected in 1808 and purchased by Amasa Bradly, a Hamden selectman.
• 4032 Whitney Avenue, first located in the center of town in 1809 before being moved to northern Hamden years later in order to avoid the alternative fate of demolition.

The life story of the last building, at 4066 Whitney Ave., is less clear. Now a working farm, the property was also built on in the early 18th century, the commission believes. The current owners opted in to the registration process for the same reason many other proud parents of historic homes did — to learn more.

This month, the Historic Properties Commission plans to submit a grant proposal to the state requesting $20,000 to hire a state consultant who will produce two types of research reports.

First, the investigator will produce a context statement that will detail the early history of Hamden, focusing on patterns of municipal growth and neighborhood development.

Secondly, that same consultant will examine the individual circumstances of each home, determining eligibility through four points of interest: Special events that took place in the house, the home’s association with a person of note, whether or not the architecture of the building serves as an outstanding example of a specific period or style reflective of its time, and whether the site potentially sits on land that holds important archaeological information.

That state report will allow homeowners, town residents, and broader communities to learn more about Hamden and its historic houses. Todd Levine, chairperson of the HPC, said that, other than collective curiosity, ​“civic pride” is the primary reason to register town sites in a state or national database.

There’s another reason to do that in Connecticut: the Connecticut Environmental Policy Act, which provides municipalities with the capacity to preserve and protect sites listed in the National Register from destruction.

This is of particular concern in Hamden given a 2017 controversy in which Quinnipiac University tore down the Ezra Dickerman House on Hamden Avenue. The New Haven Register reported that year that Quinnipiac had previously demolished three other buildings considered to be of historic value.

Hamden sites that are already featured in the National Register include Hamden High School, Sleeping Giant Tower, and Eli Whitney’s gun factory. There are fewer private houses listed than there are public landmarks.

Once the HPC submits this grant proposal, goes through the state process, and hears back from the federal government, they plan to perform the process again with another bunch of homes, potentially from a later era, after this first batch. That will be less expensive, given that around half of the price of this initial budget will be expended on the original context statement.

Legislative Council members were quick to propose additional ideas with the commission at Tuesday’s presentation by HPC member Paul Geary.

Representative Kathleen Schomaker, for example, inquired as to whether Native American sites could be considered for the National Register. The answer, according to Commissioner Todd Levine, who also works as an architectural historian with the state, is complicated — but worth pursuing in the future.

“There’s a lot of history to cover,” said Councilman Justin Farmer, ​“and we are grateful that you are the stewards of this.”

Geary offered this reporter a look into his own historic home before leading a tour of some of HPC’s picks, which happen to be located in his own neighborhood, West Woods.

He and his wife moved into the 1870 one-room schoolhouse (which they have since renovated to add some more space) ten years ago, after they met working as English teachers at Woodland Regional High School.

“Nothing is square. There are no 90 degree angles,” Geary noted.

“But,” he added, ​“it has survived tornados and storms and hurricanes.”

The commission should hear back from the state next year as to whether or not these homes will be included in the register. Once that happens, Geary hopes his own home will be included in the next round of research.

Individuals looking to find out more about their own places of residence can pay privately to apply to the register, or look out for a new round of funding from the commission in the coming months.