Mrs. Benjamin Pomeroy House, Southport Connecticut

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Date added: March 18, 2011

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The Southport "Chronicle" of May 1868 reported that "Mrs. Benjamin Pomeroy is about to erect a large and elegant dwelling near the site of the present one." On May 15th, 1869 the "Chronicle" announced that "Mrs. Benjamin Pomeroy's new dwelling will soon be completed, and will be one of the finest, if not the, finest, residence in the village." Noting the residence's distinctive beauty, the "Chronicle" recorded on August 1st, 1869 the completion of Mrs. Pomeroy's new home. "The elegant residence of Mrs. Benjamin Pomeroy, now finished and occupied by her, is an ornament to the street … and a great credit to the builders, Messrs. Jelliff & Northrop … No need to go abroad for our builders - we have those that excelled, at home."

The over-all character of the Pomeroy house as originally constructed is quite similar to that of the Mrs. Zalmon Wakeraan residence, 418 Harbor Road, which was also designed by Lambert & Bunnell and erected in 1871. Each is really a remarkable design, patterned in the nineteenth-century Second Empire style.

The facade of the Pomeroy house is symmetrical about a projecting three-story central pavillion and dominated by a profusion of three-dimensional details, of bold and delicate proportions. Supporting the raised front porch with its extended flat roof are clusters of carved square colonnettes. Bracketed modillions receive the weight of the deep, roll molded cornice. On the first level, the main entry of arched double doors topped by a recessed upper panel is flanked on either side by full-length windows which are protected by segmentally-arched drip moldings. The porch's cornice detail is repeated around the main cornice, articulating the eave of the straight mansard roof. Rounded dormers with twin round-headed windows pierce the roof's multicolored slate surface.

The original three-story section is square with a projecting porch on the first level, and measures 45' (three-bay front) x 40'. A two-story ell addition to the rear measures 29'-6" x 20'-6".