Pistol Factory Dwelling

Coordinates: 41°20′57″N 72°54′51″W / 41.34917°N 72.91417°W

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Pistol Factory Dwelling
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Show map of Connecticut Show map of the United States
Location	1322 Whitney Ave., Hamden, Connecticut
Coordinates	41°20′57″N 72°54′51″W / 41.34917°N 72.91417°W / 41.34917; -72.91417 (Pistol Factory Dwelling)
Area	less than one acre
Built	1845 (1845)
Architectural style	Greek Revival, Vernacular Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	91001846^[1]
Added to NRHP	December 27, 1991

The Pistol Factory Dwelling is a historic house at 1322 Whitney Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut. Built in 1845 and enlarged before 1860, it is an unusual example of a Greek Revival worker's boarding house, built by Eli Whitney II (son and business success to inventor Eli Whitney) to house workers at his nearby pistol factory. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.^[1]

Description and history

The Pistol Factory Dwelling is located in eastern Hamden, set on a knoll above Whitney Avenue just north of its junction with Mather Street. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof, two asymmetrically placed brick chimneys, and a clapboarded exterior. The main facade is five bays wide, with windows in a slightly asymmetrical placement around the main entrance. The entrance is flanked by fluted boards that resemble pilasters, sidelight windows, and another set of fluted boards, and is topped by a half-round transom window. The side gable ends have narrow horizontal windows in them, and there is a small shed-roof ell extending to the rear.^[2]

The house was built in 1845 by Eli Whitney II to house skilled workers at a pistol factory he had established nearby (on a site now flooded by Lake Whitney). The house was built as a single-pile three-bay structure, with a single-story ell to the side, which was later (before 1860) raised to match the main block in height. The house was eventually sold to one of its tenants, and was moved in 1940 to accommodate road work (but retaining its orientation to the roadway). It is the only structure that survives that is related to the pistol factory, whose site was flooded in 1861 by Whitney in a bid to improve water power for a combined arms factory further downstream.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Pistol Factory Dwelling". National Park Service. Retrieved October 17, 2018. With accompanying pictures

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

Categories:

Hidden categories:

Description and history

See also

References