Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74) DATA SHEEF u mi i SZLJ o i f\i no uc.r AVI\. i mum i wr i oc, irN i u-ixivyiv I* iilll;ill NATIONAL PARK SERVICE lllilll im :;;::'-::.: 1i iHI Jl f t 1 ? ?li' NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES m 1 :pi p1 :£v£! ;i INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM i 1:4: ill SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOWTO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC Hatheway House AND/OR COMMON Hatheway - Phelps - Burbank House LOCATION STREETS NUMBER 55 South Main Street .NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY. TOWN Suffield VICINITY OF STATE CODE COUNTY CODE Connecticut 09 Hartford 003 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE —DISTRICT —PUBLIC X-OCCUPIED —AGRICULTURE 2UVIUSEUM .XBUILDING(S) JXpRIVATE —UNOCCUPIED —COMMERCIAL —PARK —STRUCTURE —BOTH —WORK IN PROGRESS —EDUCATIONAL —PRIVATE RESIDENCE —SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE —ENTERTAINMENT —RELIGIOUS —OBJECT _IN PROCESS X_YES: RESTRICTED —GOVERNMENT —SCIENTIFIC —BEING CONSIDERED — YES: UNRESTRICTED —INDUSTRIAL —TRANSPORTATION —NO —MILITARY —OTHER: OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, Inc. of Connecticut "STREET & NUMBER 394 Main Street CITY. TOWN STATE Hartford VICINITY OF Connecticut LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC. STREET & NUMBER CITY, TOWN STATE Suffield Connecticut 1 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE Historic American Buildings Survey DATE 1959 2LFEDERAL _STATE —COUNTY —LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Library of Congress CITY. TOWN STATE Washington., P,C, DESCRIPTION CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE JJLEXCELLENT _DETERIORATED —UNALTERED X.ORIGINALSITE —GOOD __RUINS 2LALTERED —MOVED DATE_____ —FAIR __UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Set back from tree-lined South Main Street in Suffield, the Hatheway House is but one of many handsome eighteenth and nine­ teenth century homes in the town. However, one cannot help being particularly impressed by the .sophistication o,f this late .Georgian style home. A sprawling, white clapboard home, it includes a two and a half story center section built about 1762, a two and a half story north wing added in 1795 and a one and a half story south wing, an early eighteenth century structure, moved to its present site in 1762. The center section was originally built as a fairly plain, five bay, gable roofed, Georgian home. However, a one story pedi- mented portico*, supported by doric columns now surrounds the entry and windows are headed with dentil cornices. Quoins embellish the corners of the central part of the house, and a gambrel roof has replaced the original gable. Under the eaves a modillion cornice heightens the sophistication of the facade. The interior of the original house was built on «a central chim­ ney plan, having two large rooms on both the first and second floors. Fine Georgian panelling decorates the fireplace walls of each of these four rooms. A long kitchen, acc6ss£ble through doors in each of the large first floor rooms, extends along the back of the house. To the north of this center section is a three bay, two and a half story wing also covered by a gambrel roof. A magnificent Greek revival doorway surrounded by a broken pediment with modil­ lion cornice and engaged ionic columns is the southernmost of the three bays. A fanlight and sidelights further enhance its beauty. From the center section of the house one may enter this wing through the kitchen. (In 1795 the old kitchen was used as a hallway and another kitchen built. This older kitchen has re­ cently been restored.) Since the entrance to the wing is off- center, a hallway runs along the south side of the two rooms on each floor. These rooms were decorated by Oliver Phelps in 1795 and still sport Louis XVI style wallpaper handblocked in 1788 by Reveillon. Beautiful wainscoting and dentil cornices complement the French wallpaper and the Adamesque treatment of the fireplace mantels add further charm to these rooms. All the interior decor­ ation in the north wing is original with the exception of the decor in the Federal room, the larger of the first floor rooms. Much of the original room is at the Winterthur Museum in Dela­ ware and the Hatheway House room has been restored with exact re­ productions . The southern wing is a one and a half story addition with a Form No. 10-300a (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FOR NFS US£ QNil? NATIONAL PARK SERVICE mm*/£&>:".-'.^? NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM CONTI NU ATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER PAGE 2 saltbox style roof, which extends to cover a front porch. In­ side' it is very plain having simple wide board floors and twenty four-paned windows. Form No. 1{)-300a (Aev. 10-74) UNITED STATliS DEPARTMENT OE THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER /' PAGE Carriage house and stable, southwest of the house ~ This small frame structure presents three open bays to the street. The bays^are flanked by pllastera and surmounted by a rained wooden roll moulding, ca,Dped with'a mock 'keystone. A small pediment in the eave line is opened by a semi-circular lialit treated similarly to the stall openings. Centered.'' In the pable end is a circular light with spoke and wheel ^untins Coach house, northwest of the house - ThJs frame structure is of more recent construction than the smaller carriage house and stable to the south f hut it reiterates that outbuilding; in form and ornamentation* The coach house presents a sharper and higher appearance, however. Barn, north of cofc.cn house - The barn is a tony frame structure in two sections, built In the mid-19th century, The barn Is plain, with four lare:e doors in the front facade and numerous other small doors and windows, SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW —PREHISTORIC _ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC —COMMUNITY PLANNING —LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE RELIGION —1400-1499 _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC —CONSERVATION —LAW SCIENCE —1500-1599 —AGRICULTURE —ECONOMICS —LITERATURE SCULPTURE —1600-1699 2LARCHITECTURE __EDUCATION —MILITARY SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN X_1700-1799 _ART —ENGINEERING —MUSIC THEATER —1800-1899 —COMMERCE ^.EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT —PHILOSOPHY TRANSPORTATION —1900- —COMMUNICATIONS —INDUSTRY —POLITICS/GOVERNMENT —INVENTION decoration SPECIFIC DATES BUILDER/ARCHITECT 1762,additions in 1795 unknown, Asher Benjamin--north entry STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Built sometime between 1735 and 1762, by Abraham Burbank, the Hatheway House has undergone many changes that distinguish it from the numerous eighteenth and nineteenth century houses on Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut. When Abraham Burbank 1 s son, Shem, sold the house to Oliver Phelps in 1788 it was a plain, gable-roofed Georgian home. While Phelps owned the house additions were made and interior and exterior decorations added to make the house a suit­ able home for a wealthy, sophisticated man. Oliver Phelps was born in 1749 in Poquonock, a town just south of Suffield, He was apprenticed at an early age to a Suffield merchant with whom he lived until 1771 when he left to become a merchant and tavern keeper in Granville, Massachusetts. Speculation fever was running high throughout the country at that time and Phelps soon became a large landholder. During the Revolution he was present at the Lexington alarm and served for sometime as Dep­ uty Commissary of the Colonial Army and Superintendent of Purchases, for which he received a letter of commendation from General Wash­ ington . Back in Granville, Oliver Phelps married and had a son and a daughter. From 1778 to 1787 he served a Town Clerk and Selectman, and from 1779 to 1780 was a representative to the General Court and delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts. In 1787 Phelps and Judge Nathaniel Gorham of Charleston, Massachusetts Became involved in the purchase of large parcels of land in Genesee County, New York. Together they bought six mil­ lion acres and Phelps acted as general agent, responsible for boundaries and the pre-emptive line, which was set by him, author­ ities of New York and the Indians. In 1788 he moved to Suffield where he opened a land office and purchased the Hatheway House. The next year he also opened land offices in Canandaigua, New York. When, in 1795, Connecti­ cut^ f Western Reserve* opened, Phelps again purchased large parcels of land. In addition, he owned land in the Penobscot area of Maine, in the Georgia Land Company and in the area which is now West Virginia. It is said that he was the largest landholder in North America at this time. IMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Anonymous,"The Phelps-Hatheway House in Suffield", Connecticut Antiquarian. Bulletin of the Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, July, 1962, Vol. XIV, No. 1. see continuation sheet DGEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY ________ UTM REFERENCES Bl , I I I . I . , I I.I.I.. ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING cl . I I I . I . , I I , I . I , . I Pi . | II . 1 . 1 I i I , I I i VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE Christine B. Brockmeyer, Consultant ORGANIZATION DATE Connecticut Historical Commission March 15, 1975 TELEPHONE CITY OR TOWN STATE Hartford, Connecticut STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: X NATIONAL__ STATE