John Sill House, Lyme Street, Old Lyme, New London County, CT

Significance: Local architect/builder Samuel Belcher began this house for Lyme merchant John Sill about 1817. Tradition states that Judge Charles McCurdy finished the interiors after he bought the house in 1822. The Huntington family owned the house from the 1860's until 1944; thus it was usually referred to as the "Huntington Place." C. Whitney Carpenter acquired possession in late 1944 and soon after carried out an extensive restoration and modernization project with local architect Robert I. Carter. Carter and his wife purchased the property in 1957 and lived here with their family. Their children sold the house to the Lyme Academy of Fin Arts in 1983. The John Sill House is one of a group of three known Belcher buildings standing on Old Lyme's Main Street. The group also includes the Congregational Church and the Florence Griswold House which has similar plan features and interior details. Much of the original fabric remains inside and out of the Sill House's main section and kitchen ell alongside interesting and sympathetic 19th and 20th century alterations and additions. The long farm wing with attached barn burned in the 1940's and was rebuilt by Carpenter. This wing is now being extensively enlarged and altered for art studios.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-47
Survey number: HABS CT-268