Isaac C. Lewis Cottage in Branford, Connecticut, is a wonderfully preserved example of a Victorian seaside home built in 1882 that combines rich architectural woodwork flourishes drawn from Gothic Revival, Second Empire, Eastlake, and Stick architectural styles. The playful, eclectic mix of design elements in this two-and-a-half-story wood-frame home with its crowning tower, vaulted ceilings, and sweeping porches offering gorgeous views of Long Island Sound was the seaside cottage of one of the richest industrialists in Connecticut.
Isaac Chauncey Lewis was born in Meriden, Connecticut, where he learned as a 15-year-old apprentice to create dinnerware made from Britannia, a pewter-like alloy that was hand-cast into plates, bowls, and other household items in the 19th century.
He established his own Britannia factory in 1841. In 1852, Lewis merged with other tableware manufacturers to form the Meriden Britannia Company, of which he was president. Lewis was a leader in the mechanization of tableware manufacturing from small shop production to a large-scale industrial setting using steam presses to stamp products. The industry grew during the second half of the 19th century and gave Meriden its nickname as "The Silver City."
Lewis was also active as a philanthropist and politician. He served as a state representative from Meriden for eighteen years and, beginning in 1870, he served three terms as mayor. Lewis was also president of a local bank, and when he died in 1893, his estate was valued at more than two million dollars.
The architect of Isaac C Lewis Cottage was Henry Martin Jones, who had designed Victorian houses in the carpenter-architect tradition for many members of Meriden’s wealthy elite. Victorian architectural tastes were also fueled in part by the mechanization of the steam-powered building trade in the latter part of the 19th century, which enabled carpenters to create dense ornamental millwork.
Isaac C Lewis Cottage is a classic example of Victorian design that filled every surface, edge and boundary with some kind of decorative surface. The A. Merriam and Company store in Meriden which advertised "Elegant scrolling and sawing, planing, turning, etc., executed with neatness and dispatch" to create the elaborate architectural woodwork that gives the cabin such a strikingly distinctive and ornate character.
Sawn, turned and molded joinery became more common with steam-powered construction in the late 19th century and the cabin with its braces, bargeboard and scalloped shingles displays a rich variety of the best joinery skills of the day. Fish scale tiles decorate the front gables, with a pair of fan or sunburst trims adorning the first and second floors of the front wing.
Nearly every exterior surface has the original millwork, making it one of New England’s best preserved examples of a Victorian seaside cottage. Isaac C Lewis Cottage is located at 255 Thimble Islands Road in the Stony Brook section of Branford. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, making it one of the most important historic homes in Branford, Connecticut.