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Middlesex COUNTY · Institutions & education

The Alsop House: a home becomes a place for art

A High Street house links Middletown’s nineteenth-century domestic architecture with Wesleyan’s twentieth-century art collections. Period survey photographs bring its rooms and details into view.

Historical focus · 1838–1952 and later

Explore the photographs Read the story
1. Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph C. Berlepsch, Photographer March 23, 1934 NORTH EAST ELEVATION (FRONT) + SIDE - Richard Alsop House, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
1. Historic American Buildings Survey Joseph C. Berlepsch, Photographer March 23, 1934 NORTH EAST ELEVATION (FRONT) + SIDE - Richard Alsop House, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT · March 23, 1934

THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPHS

People, places, and change.

A house with a long second life

The HABS catalog dates the Richard Alsop House to 1838–1839. Its photographs include exterior views and interior details, offering a record of an ambitious domestic setting before its later identity as a university arts landmark. The building’s origins provide context for its continuing place in Middletown between 1850 and 1999. The gallery separates the date of construction from the date each photograph was made. [1]

From family house to university collection

Wesleyan acquired the house in 1948 with support from Harriet and George W. Davison. In 1952, an addition became the home of the Davison Art Center. George Davison’s gifts, built around a large collection of prints, helped turn a domestic property into a setting for looking at and teaching art. The change connected a historic house to a new institutional purpose. [2] [3]

Rooms, surfaces and careful dates

Joseph C. Berlepsch’s March 23, 1934 photographs in this survey predate Wesleyan’s purchase. They are especially useful when comparing the house’s earlier appearance with its later arts use. Read each image caption individually: a decorated room can reveal an architectural surface, but its photograph alone cannot establish who painted it, when it was restored or how the room was used throughout the building’s history. [1]

Sources & further reading (3)
  1. Library of Congress: Richard Alsop House, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
  2. Wesleyan University: the Alsop House and its institutional history
  3. Wesleyan Davison Art Collection: George and Harriet Davison

Keep the sources close.

Download this collection’s notes, timeline and image credits. Photographs link to their original archives and require an internet connection.

Download collection notes

Building dates and photograph dates are recorded separately. Later photographs are identified in their captions; unknown exposure dates remain unknown. Follow each image’s credit and reuse terms.