Census of Old Buildings in Connecticut

In 1934, a small group of people began visiting every town in Connecticut to survey its “old buildings.” A Work Projects Administration (WPA) project, the staff of the Census of Old Buildings in Connecticut completed forms with information about the buildings, and often also took photographs of the buildings. Most are houses, but some schools, churches, factories, and libraries are included. The survey forms and photographs were originally deposited in the State Archives. Names of owners are included on the forms.

The staff at Connecticut State Library has transcribed the forms, digitized the photographs, and is presenting them online as part of the CSL Digital Collections. The WPA Architectural Survey Census of Old Buildings can be viewed at www.cslib.cdmhost.com.
As of June 2011, this information is online for Andover through Morris. This is a work in progress and the information for other towns is being added as time allows. Most of the buildings have no name, and locations are rarely addresses, for example, “East side, facing west on Conn. 93, at southeast corner of Green.” Construction dates and the original owners are as written on the survey forms, even though more recent research may provide different information. Current owners are also listed, but those are the people current as of the 1930s.

The State Library encourages viewers to use the “Tell Us More” field in each building’s descriptive metadata (information about an item) to email us with more information about each building, its history, its address, current status, and any other relevant data.

Any questions can be directed to Carol Ganz, Reference Librarian, Connecticut State Library, cganz@cslib.org, (860) 757-6587.