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: Schwartz's Furniture Store	Historic Name: Merchant's Hotel
Town/City: Norwich	County: New London
Address:72-86	Street: Main Street
Owners:Lewis Maruzo et. al. l8l Broadway, Norwich, CT	Private
Present Use: vacant	Historic Use Hotel
Exterior is viewable to public	Interior is NOT accessible
Style of Building: Federal/Italianate	Construction Date: l797, l867
Materials Brick Stucco	Structural System Load Bearing Masonry
Roof Flat Roll Asphalt
Stories: 3	Dimensions: 75 x l20 original structure 60 x
Structural Condition: Deteriorated	Exterior Condition: Deteriorated
Alterations: facade covered with stucco
Outbuildings:
Environment: commercial High Building Density

Interrelationship of Building and Surroundings:

This building is similar in scale to its surrounding buildings. It is an important element in the street-scape.

Features:

The facade has been covered with stucco. Only 3 windows remain on the second floor and on the third. These are boarded up. The west elevation has bricked-in rectangular window openings with splayed lintels. A one-story addition to the west has the remains of a cast iron front. The rear of the main building has a wooden cornice with modillions. To the rear are several additions, including a garage attached to the William Nichol's Brick Barn.

Architect:

Builder: Col. Henry Peale (1867)

Importance:

The Merchant's Hotel was built in l797 by an association of businessmen. According to Caulkins, it was superior to any previous hotel in Norwich. Both Lafayette and President Andrew Jackson stayed here. In l867, Captain Erastus Williams built a building of fine pressed brick, iron and Nova Scotia stone next to the old Merchant's Hotel. On his death, F. Winslow Williams, his son, took over. He rebuilt the facade of the Merchant's Hotel to correspond to that of the new building erected by his father. The new store was occupied by Seidenber, Bachrach & Co. as a dry goods store. The remodeled Merchant's Hotel had a courtroom on the third floor. The present building is comprised of both the Merchant's Hotel and the new building of l867, unified under a stucco covering. In the late l9th century, Jewish businessmen met here to organize one of the first synagogues in Norwich.

Sources:

Art Work of Norwich, l898 (photo)

Caulkins, History of Norwich, l874 ed. p.539.

Harpin's Connecticut Almanac, Norwich Edition 1972-3, p.56.

Common Council Journal, Norwich l867, l870.

"Norwich. A Year's Growth and Progress", Norwich Bulletin Jan. l l868, p. 2 c. 3.

Tyler, Norwich Earl Homes and Families l906, p.l6.

Beers Soules and Ellis Atlas of New London County l868,

Map of Norwich, Connecticut State Library

Evaluations:

Threats Private Deterioration