Community Corner

eBay Tuesday: The Harris Building And The Harris House

Buildings bearing name of prominent New London entrepreneur remain some of the most recognizable in the city today

I've always enjoyed the Harris Building, in particular the beautiful Atrium space that greets you when you walk through the doors at 165 State Street. But I never looked into its history, a long and rich one I've probably just managed to sum up in researching this article.

This week's item, a large 1893 print of the Harris Building offered by user saskiatwo, gives some sense of the Harris Building back in its heyday. And, as an added bonus, the print also portrays the mansion once occupied by Jonathan Newton Harris, for whom the building was named.

The five-story brick building was designed by Leopold Eidlitz, an Austrian architect who came to the United States in 1843. His buildings included "Iranistan," the ornate Bridgeport mansion of circus magnate P.T. Barnum that burned less than a decade after it was built, and several prominent New York City buildings, including the "Tweed Courthouse" still described by the city's Public Design Commission as "one of New York City's greatest civic monuments." In addition to the Harris Building, Eidlitz designed New London's First Congregational Church

As for Harris, he was born in Salem in 1815 and made a fortune in patent medicine. He was also well-known as a philanthropist, giving money to churches and schools and giving $100,000 to establish the Harris School of Science in Kyoto, Japan. He served as president of the Mount Hermon School for Boys in Northfield, Mass. and was a former mayor of New London and state senator. He died in New London in 1896 at the age of 80.

If Harris' house looks familiar, it's because you can still see it today. It looks slightly different than it does in the print, with the United Methodist Church of New London making some renovations to it after moving in.

The print has a visible sign advertising "James Hislop & Co. Dry Goods." Hislop spent over 30 years in this business, opening stores in South Norwalk and Stamford as well. He died in 1908 at the age of 61.

Perhaps most surprising to me was the discovery that the Harris Building was known for a long time as the Lena Building. It was purchased in 1925 by Dr. Hugh F. Lena and his brother Dr. Frank A. Lena as well as Fred T. Lena, a high school principal in Yonkers, for $280,000. Hugh Lena had a private hospital at 154 Broad Street, in the building now occupied by Alliance for Living.

The "Lena Building" name for the State Street building persisted into the 1980s. During that time, the building was falling into disrepair, with concerns over everything from a rusted gas line to the stairways leading to the building's condemnation in 1981. Restoration work began in 1986, and developers also shed the Lena name to bring in its current title as Harris Place.

The print is 19 and a half inches by 15 inches. The asking price is $19.99, and the auction ends at about 9:16 a.m. on Wednesday.

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