The Converse House and Barn are a historic residential property at 185 Washington Street in Norwich, Connecticut, built around 1870 for a local businessman and philanthropist. It is a prominent example of High Victorian Gothic architecture. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and is included in the Chelsea Parade Historic District.
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131 m
The Slater Memorial Museum is a historic building and art museum on the grounds of the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, designed by the architect Stephen C. Earle. The building was begun in 1885, dedicated on November 4, 1886, and opened to the public in 1888. It was commissioned by the textile magnate William A. Slater in honor of his father, John Fox Slater. The building, constructed of brick and brownstone in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, with rusticated masonry, medieval decorative elements, and the lavish use of tiles and terracotta, is considered by some to be Earle's finest work. It is a contributing property in the Chelsea Parade Historic District in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places. The adjacent Converse Art Gallery, built in 1906, was designed by the firm of Cudworth & Woodworth.
The original museum collection consisted of 227 plaster casts of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Renaissance sculpture, acquired in 1887–1888 with the assistance of Edward Robinson, the curator of classical antiquities at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. These are still displayed in the main hall of the building, and together represent one of the largest surviving collections of plaster casts in the United States. The original displays also included electrotype copies of ancient Greek coins and Renaissance medals, together with photographs of European art and architecture. The collection has since expanded to include colonial and local historic artifacts, American and European paintings and decorative arts, African and Oceanic sculpture, and Native American objects.
131 m
The Chelsea Parade Historic District encompasses a predominantly residential area north of downtown Norwich, centered around the Chelsea Parade, a triangular public park. The area has long been a preferred residential area for the city's upper classes, and includes a catalog of architecture from the 18th to 20th centuries. It includes 565 contributing buildings, two other contributing sites, and six contributing objects over an area of 205 acres. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
352 m
The Perkins-Rockwell House is a historic house museum at 42 Rockwell Street in Norwich, Connecticut. Built in 1818, it is locally distinctive as a well-preserved stone house of the Federal period, and for its association with the locally prominent Perkins and Rockwell families; this house was home to John A. Rockwell, a prominent local lawyer who married into the Perkins family, and also served as a member of Congress. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 17, 1985. The house is currently owned by the Faith Trumbull Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, along with the adjacent Nathaniel Backus House.
370 m
The Norwich Free Academy, founded in 1854 and in operation since 1856, is a coeducational independent school for students between the 9th and 12th grade. Located in Norwich, Connecticut, the Academy serves as the primary high school for Norwich and the surrounding towns of Canterbury, Bozrah, Voluntown, Sprague, Lisbon, Franklin, Preston, and Brooklyn. It was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 2001.
Incorporated in 1855 by an act of the Connecticut Legislature, the Academy is an independent school and operates as a privately endowed educational institution that is governed by its board of trustees. One of the state's three endowed, independent academies, the Connecticut State Department of Education refers to the Academy as "a privately governed, endowed, regional independent school."
In addition to serving Norwich and surrounding communities, NFA also educates private tuition students. NFA is a member of the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools.
417 m
The Nathaniel Backus House is a two-story Greek Revival clapboarded house with a gable roof in Norwich, Connecticut. The house was built around 1750 by Nathaniel Backus and served as his home. It was moved to its current location in 1952. The house began as a Colonial structure, but it was greatly modified to Greek Revival around 1825, reconfiguring the central door to the left of the facade and adding two chimneys. It is a historic house museum operated by the Faith Trumbull Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The Nathaniel Backus House was submitted to the National Register of Historic Places for its historical value in local history and as an example of Greek Revival domestic architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and was also included in the Chelsea Parade Historic District in 1989.
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