Historic Homes of Hartford CT: Day-Taylor House
The Day-Taylor house was built in 1857 with beautiful Italian villa-style architecture at the same time that Samuel Colt, the creator of the Colt Revolver, built his Armsmear property directly across the street. Located at the center of Colt’s architectural heritage at 81 Wethersfield Avenue, it has been the residence of several prominent Hartford, Connecticut families.
The Day-Taylor House was built by Hirim Billel, the highly esteemed Hartford builder who also built the Connecticut State Capitol and the Memorial Arch in Bushnell Park. He was influenced by the ideas of Andrew Jackson Downing, who wrote treatises on landscape design and architecture that were very popular at the time. It is an example of a style Downing called “Italian” based on Italian farms that were also depicted in popular landscape paintings of the time.
The three-story building of red brick masonry and white trim has an asymmetrical facade dominated by floor-to-ceiling arched windows on each level, balconies, cast iron lintels, and a flat-roofed dome. The supports lining the roof and dome are particularly detailed and ornate. The three-part gallery of the front façade is supported by elaborate Corinthian columns. The front facade has remained unchanged since its original construction.
The first owner and resident was Albert F. Day, a descendant of Robert Day, one of Hartford’s original colonial settlers. The house was later occupied by his father, a Connecticut attorney general. Later owners included Mary Borden Munsill of the Borden Milk Company and Edwin Taylor. In 1928 the house was bought by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, which used it as a meeting house and headquarters. In 1974 it was bought by the Hartford Redevelopment Agency.
The Day-Taylor House is also importantly located in Hartford’s Colt architectural heritage, which stretches along both sides of Wethersfield Avenue for two blocks. The area has been designated as the Coltsville Historic District.
The Day-Taylor House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It underwent a major restoration in 1979 and the building now serves as offices. The combination of which was built by one of Hartford’s most distinguished builders, Hirim Billel, which was built the same year and directly across the street from Samuel Colt Home and Armsmear Estate Park, and which has been owned and occupied by So many notable Hartford residents make it one of the most important historic homes in Hartford, Connecticut.
