HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORY BUILDING AND STRUCTURES Norwich Heritage Trust, Inc, P.O.Box 185 Norwich, CT 06360	This Building sponsored by Rose City Renaissance
Building Name: Music Store of Norwich / Alliance Church	Historic Name: Barzillai Davison House
Town/City: Norwich	County: New London
Address:62-66	Street: Main Street
Owners:Music Center Corp, Norwich CT	Private
Present Use: Music Store, Music Studio, Church	Historic Use
Exterior is viewable to public	Interior is accessible	Explain: Store's first floor.
Style of Building: Federal/Italianate	Construction Date: c. 1766 c. 1865 rear 1887 Church
Materials Clapboard	Structural System Wood Frame Load Bearing Masonry
Roof Flat Shed Asphalt Shingle
Stories: 4	Dimensions: 50 X 100
Structural Condition: Fair	Exterior Condition: Fair
Alterations:
Outbuildings:
Environment: commercial High Building Density

Interrelationship of Building and Surroundings:

The building is in the middle of a stretch of about a dozen pre-1860 buildings. They are all set close together, back the same distance from the street, and harmonious in scale.

Features:

The building rests on a raised brick basement probably of late 19th-century date. The Main Street facade features a 20th-century aluminum and glass storefront at the basement level. The upper floors and cornice are sheathed in plywood and aluminum. The side elevations of the main structure are covered with clapboard and are four bays in width. All windows are boarded over. The projecting cornice is supported by brackets and modillions on the west side. None are present on the east side. The first floor interior has ornate stamped sheet metal ceiling and walks. Two brick additions occur at the rear of the building. The first dates to about 1865, when Evan Burdick owned the building. The second addition, which fronts Church Street was added by Michael Hourigan in 1887. This is a distinct entity in itself. It is 2 stories in height 6 bays in width. Doors are inset deeply. The paneled central door is original. A triple entry has round arches with decorative brickwork. Windows have segmentally arched brick lintels. Between the first and second floor is a cut brick soldier course. An entablature of slightly raised brick has a corbel table formed by projecting headers. A cut brick soldier course decorates the entablature. Brackets support the cornice.

Architect:

Builder:

Importance:

This was first the home of Barzillai Davison, a goldsmith and silversmith. It passed into the possession of Captain Erastus Davison, a sea captain, who owned the building until 1833. From 1833-1845 it was the residence of Dr. Ralph Farnsworth. Subsequently, it was owned by Dr. Ashbel B. Haile, 1845-1858, and Newell and William Brakenridge, 1858-1864. From 1864-1885, Evan and Nancy Burdick were the owners. Evan Burdick, the leading Norwich architect of the 19th-century, maintained his office here, sharing occupancy with a saloon and billiard parlor. Burdick may have been responsible for the Italianate features added to the building in this period.

Michael Hourigan, an undertaker, purchased the property in 1885 and erected the brick addition on Church Street in 1887. The Main Street storefront served as his funeral parlor. His residence was in the Church Street addition.

The building is significant as an early residence altered for commercial purposes in the mid 19th-century. It is associated with several noteworthy Norwich residents and businessmen. The frame building on Main Street may retain Italianate detail underneath the modern material sheathing the facade. The attached brick addition on Church Street has considerable architectural merit. It is an excellent vernacular version of Romanesque.

Sources:

Norwich City Directories

Norwich Court of Common Council Journal 1867

Harby, Stephen W. Norwich Connecticut A Guide to its Architecture

Leading Businessmen of Norwich

Norwich Morning Bulletin 26 Feb. 1883

1790 Census

Caulkins Francis M., History of Norwich 1866 (1974), p.637, 455, 562, 608, 458

Evaluations:

Threats Private Deterioration 3rd and 4th floors in serious disrepair