Elisha Bushnell House
{{short description|Historic house in Connecticut, United States}}
{{See also|List of the oldest buildings in Connecticut}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Elisha Bushnell House
| nrhp_type =
| image = OldSaybrookCT_ElishaBushnellHouse.jpg
| caption =
| location = 1445 Boston Post Rd., Old Saybrook, Connecticut
| coordinates = {{coord|41|17|14|N|72|24|31|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Connecticut#USA
| built = {{start date|1678}}
| architect = Bushnell, Elisha
| architecture = Colonial
| added = November 29, 1978
| area = {{convert|2|acre|ha}}
| refnum = 78002850{{NRISref|version=2009a}}
}}
The Elisha Bushnell House is a historic house at 1445 Boston Post Road in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. With a construction history dating to 1678, it is one of Connecticut's oldest surviving buildings, exhibiting an evolutionary construction history. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Description and history
The Elisha Bushnell House is located in western Old Saybrook, on the north side of Boston Post Road (United States Route 1) opposite its junction with Baum Avenue. It is a {{frac|2|1|2}}-story timber-framed structure, with a gabled roof, central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. It has a shedroof ell extending to the right, and a rear sloping section that gives the house a classic saltbox profile. The exterior carries no significant stylisting elements, with simple cornerboards framing the openings and building corners, and a shed-roof portico sheltering the main entrance. The interior includes a number of elements important in deciphering the building's construction history, and has some features typically seen only in very old houses, such as basement and attic stairs built into the masonry of the massive central chimney.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=78002850}}|title=NRHP Inventory-Nomination: Elisha Bushnell House / Older Bushnell House|author=David F. Ransom |date=October 8, 1977 |publisher=National Park Service}} and {{NRHP url|id=78002850|title=Accompanying 8 photos, exterior and interior, from 1977-1978|photos=y}}
The house has been documented by J. Frederick Kelly, an important Connecticut architectural historian, as dating from 1678.{{rp|7}} When built by Elisha Bushnell in 1678, it consisted of two rooms, one on either side of the chimney, with a loft space above. Later alterations (all before the turn of the 19th century, and probably in the early 18th century), included raising the roof to add a second story, and adding the rear leanto section.
The property includes two outbuildings, a 19th-century barn and another single-story building called the "Slave House".
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Category:Houses in Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Category:Colonial architecture in Connecticut
Category:Houses completed in 1678
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut