90 Main Street

This house stands on a substantial tree-shaded two acre lot opposite the intersection of Main street and Route 68.
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• Record ID: 83
• Address: 90 Main Street
• Current Owner: Korn, Clara
• Name of Building: Francis E. Korn House
• Historic Name: Francis Hubbard House
• Download PDF of Original Record

Notable Features

Hip-roofed portico, supported by thin octagonal  wooden columns, are joined by spandrels ornarrented with sawn-out quatrefoils. The dormer is sheathed with vertical flush boards.

Historical or Architectural Importance

The Hubbard-Francis House is a substantial two and a half story nineteenth-century domestic vernacular structure. It stands on a sandstone block foundation. The
front entry is centered on the facade. It is protected by a projecting hip-roofed portico which is supported by thin octagonal wooden columns. The columns are joined by spandrels ornamented with sawn-out quatrefoils. The entry contains a four panel Italianate door which is original to the house. The main entry is flanked by four symmetrically placed 6X6 windows with shutters. The second story of the facade contains 6X6′ s arranged in five bays. The facade is surmounted by a gable roofed dormer. It is sheathed with vertical flush boards and contains an arch-top 2X2 window. The roof of this house is characterized by an unusually wide soffit, suggesting that it may originally have been supported by brackets. This would be consistant with other Italianate features of the structure. To the North and South gable ends of the main block stand two symmetrical two story gable roof additions measuring 22X7. Structural evidence suggests that, if not original to the structure, they were added shortly after its erection. To the front of these are two later one story hip roof additions which though similar in shape, preserving the symmetry of the structure, serve different functions. The south side addition is an open entry porch containing the sarre unusual ornamental features of the main portico. The north side addition is enclosed, and contains two 6X6 windows.

The land on which this house was built had been in the Camp family since the early eighteenth century. The first dwelling to stand on the site was built by Captain Job Camp (1728-1791). He left the house to his son, the shoemaker Manoah camp (1760-1842), who left it in turn to his son, the shoemaker Elizur camp (1804-1899). In 1861, Elizur Camp gave the house to his daughter, Susan E. (Camp), wife of Francis Hubbard. Hubbard was the principal owner of the Merriam Manufacturing Company, which had been started by his relatives L.M. Merriam and Thomas Hubbard of Meriden. He married Susan Camp in 1857. On acquiring the old homestead, they razed it and, in 1862, built the present structure. The house remained in the Hubbard family until 1928, when it was sold to Frederick F. Brewster of New Haven. He owened it until 1947, when it was purchased by the Korn family, its present owners, in 1950.
This house is an interesting example of nineteenth-century domestic vernacular architecture, particularly notable for its ornamental woodwork. Historically, this house is significant for its association with the Hubbard family, founders of the town’s major nineteenth century industrial enterprise.
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