The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Three centuries a home
1719 Hubbard House links to city’s agricultural past
MIDDLETOWN — The Monahan family coming to own one of the oldest houses in Middletown quite possibly was not a coincidence.
Jean Monahan, who owns the circa 1719 Robert Hubbard house, on the former Green Hill homestead at 1340 Randolph Road with her husband, Mike, lived years ago on nearby Maple Shade Road, moved to Boston for a time, then returned to the city and gave birth to her oldest son, Matthew.
When he was about 5, Jean Monahan drove by the land, and thought feeding carrots to the horses on the property at the corner of Randolph Road and South Main Street would delight him.
She tells the story, pointing to a photograph of Matthew tucked under the corn crib she took at the time, “never,
never, in a million years, imagining remotely that this would someday be our house.”
Fast forward and the couple’s now adult children, Matt, Jake and Jon Monahan, returned to Middletown over the weekend to gather with friends for a 300th birthday party for their 15year home.
Storied history
The base structure of the house originally was a fort in the 1600s and, at the time, surrounded by 200 acres of land — much different from the view now, Mike Monahan said.
Robert Hubbard Sr. was the grandson of George Hubbard and Elizabeth Watts. In 1639, George Hubbard was one of the founders of Hartford, and the agent who traded with the Mattabassett Indians for the land that became Middletown, as well as Portland and Cromwell.
The 2,200squarefoot home formerly had an 18thcentury horse barn considered so picturesque by neighbors and the larger community that Jean Monahan has amassed paintings and drawings she’s been given over the years. They come to her unexpectedly, and seemingly endlessly — a source of great humor for the family.
That barn is now gone. It was saved as part of a compromise made between the city and developer, who agreed to dismantle the barn and reassemble it in or near Rutland, Vt.
In May 2002, the community discovered that the developer who planned to relocate the barn to make way for an 11lot subdivision was really intending to sell it.
The plan to move the barn stirred up opposition from neighbors and preservationists, calling themselves the Robert Hubbard Homestead Preservation Committee, who cited the fact the Hubbards were a prominent family in Middletown’s history and the barn was part of the Hubbard homestead.
The Connecticut Historical Society told Carolyn Laban, Robert Hubbard Homestead Preservation Committee chairwoman in 2002, the homestead had “enough historical integrity” to nominate for the state registry.
“This farm is absolutely the only representation to what it was like to be here in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s. It is the blood of our founders,” Laban said at the time.
The house was named to the state historical record that August.
When the family moved in, a neighbor stopped by with photographs she had taken of the barn. “She took these two pictures in a matter of moments,” Jean Monahan said, pointing to the display on the living room mantle.
“Two weeks later, another came by: ‘I painted a picture of your barn.’ I was so fascinated. There were people in the community who were so happy that someone stepped up to buy the house,” she said.
Jean Monahan, who formerly worked for the Howard & McMillan law firm in Middletown, said that a coworker once said her parents had owned the property for 50 years.
“She gave us this paperwork you won’t believe — that’s been handed down from the 1800s. That’s how we’ve learned so much about the property,” Jean Monahan said.
One letter written in June 1874 by Bela Hubbard, older brother of Robert James Hubbard, talks about the homestead.
“The owner bought the home at auction. He kept outbidding everyone,” Mike Monahan said. “Come to find out, he worked at the Brownstone Quarry. He bought the house and had his eye on a girl who lived on Ridge Road. He wanted to impress her, so he took out the center chimney, put in the twostory bay window, made some other modern changes to the house.”
He was 40 years to her 17 and had to wait until she turned 18 to marry.
“Then they had a baby and it was the first baby in the house in close to a century. They were all excited: ‘Bay window … and a baby!’” Jean Monahan said with a laugh.
Municipal Historian Deborah Shapiro consulted one of the the Greater Middletown Preservation Trust’s volumes to find information on the Hubbard land.
“It’s believed to have been built in 1675 during King Philip’s War as one of three stone block houses which tradition says was erected in the Long Hill area as a defense against ‘hostile Indians,’ ” Shapiro said.
Its brownstone rubble construction is identical to that at 30 Maple Shade Road, widely considered the oldest home in Middletown.
The architectural features are significant: It has a triplerun staircase with vertical wainscoting, widely spaced turned balusters with a plain handrail, and a highly unusual feature: a double attic roof framing system, with post and beam construction, Shapiro said.
The home was owned by the Daniels family from 1719 to 1868.
There are many rooms of all sizes. One of the upper floor door hinges was created by a blacksmith with leather washers, which shows how ancient it is. There used to be dolls on display in every room, which were arranged in themes around the holidays, such as Christmas, Mike Monahan said.
“Things have changed a lot over the years. The center chimney was taken out. They put in a window to get some light into the closet,” he deadpans, poking fun at some of the more charming aspects of his home.
“The floors are very ‘tilty.’ We don’t notice it anymore. Our 6foot3 one is very good a bobbing and weaving,” Jean Monahan said, watching her sons ducking under the low overhead beams.
In the attic, the home’s age is very apparent, with handhewn postandbeamstyle construction. There are cornhusk dolls and other miniature items, such as fans, and dollhouse elements, which the family keeps on a shelf in the atti.
Aged, discolored wallpapers peel from various layers laid over the years.
Hung from the rafters are various tools used at the time, all labeled: an ox ring, fruit picker, ammunition box, crystal doorknob and more.
Draftiness is a given in these sorts of structures, and the family has taken it in stride.
The forcedair heater on the first floor shuts off when a certain temperature is reached, leaving the upper floors a chilly 50 degrees in the winter.
“It’s insulated like a paper bag,” Mike Monahan said.
Matthew Monahan has fun explaining to people his childhood home.
“They look at me puzzled, like they don’t even know how to relate to that. I like to tell people how uneven everything is, the superwide floor boards. It’s weird how nothing is the same: this door is a different shape than this door and this ceiling height is different,” he said.
“It’s secluded so it’s kind of like time stood still here,” Mike Monahan said.