Allyn Steele House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Allyn Steele House
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 Location in Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Location | 114 N. Main St., West Hartford, Connecticut |
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| Area | 0.2 acres (0.081 ha) |
| Built | 1775 |
| Architect | Steele, Allyn |
| Architectural style | Colonial, Center Chimney Colonial |
| MPS | Eighteenth-Century Houses of West Hartford TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 86002022 |
| Added to NRHP | September 10, 1986 |
The Allyn Steele House is a very old and important house located at 114 North Main Street in West Hartford, Connecticut. It was built way back in 1775. This makes it one of the few buildings from the 1700s that are still standing in West Hartford today. Because of its history, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Discovering the Allyn Steele House
The Allyn Steele House can be found just north of the center of West Hartford. It sits on the east side of North Main Street. You'll see it north of where North Main Street meets Fern Street. The house is on a piece of land that has a low stone wall at the front.
What Makes It Special?
This house is a two-and-a-half-story building made of wood. It has a roof that slopes down on two sides. A big chimney stands right in the middle of the house. The outside walls are covered with overlapping wooden boards, called clapboards.
The front of the house is quite grand. It has five sections, like windows or doors, spaced out evenly. The main front door is right in the middle. Flat, decorative columns, called pilasters, stand on each side of the doorway. A fancy decorative top part, called an entablature, sits above the door.
On the right side of the house, there's a window area that sticks out. It has many sides, like a polygon. This part was likely added later, perhaps in the 1800s. Inside the house, you can still see many original features from when it was built. These include a beautiful curved staircase near the front. There are also decorative wooden panels that stick out, called raised paneling, in the front living room.
A Glimpse into History
The Allyn Steele House was built around 1775 by a man named Allyn Steele. He was the son of one of the first landowners in West Hartford. It's possible that an even older building stood on this spot before this house was built.
As mentioned, this house is one of the very few buildings from the 1700s that still exist in the town. The Steele family sold the house in 1814. After that, it became the main building on a farm. It stayed as part of a farm until about 1925.
