CENTERBROOK ARCHITECTS LECTURE SERIES WITH ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN DR. THEODORE SAWRUK: “THE ITALIANATE VILLA: RECONSIDERING THE AMERICAN FAMILY “

As early as 1700, the Connecticut River supported a thriving maritime and shipbuilding trade and served to maintain commercial connections between Boston, Providence, and New York City.  The later addition of a rail system only served to ease and encourage travel between these industrial centers.  By the 1840s, numerous wealthy families, seeking refuge from urban crowds, pollution, and summer heat, built private retreats in towns along the river.  From Old Saybrook to Hartford, the area soon supported numerous examples of the fashionable Italianate style.  Dr. Sawruk will discuss the influence of Connecticut’s Italianate villas for the Essex Library’s Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series at 7 p.m. on June 4 in a virtual meeting on Zoom.

The innovative Italianate design was derived from the melding of traditional European aesthetics with a technical understanding of passive solar design.  Drawing on lessons learned from African slaves in the southern states, the Italianate villa with its wrap-around-porch, open plan, and roof-top cupola realized a layering of activity spaces, transitioning from public exterior to private interior, all while providing naturally ventilated accommodations.

Sawruk’s audience will learn how, with this new residential prototype, 19th-century social life evolved, and with these changes, the American nuclear family came into existence.  A new interpretation of family, the conception of our leisurely bucolic, suburban lifestyle owes much of its conception to the Italianate Villa.

This Zoom event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. For more information or to register, please call the Essex Library at 860-767-1560 or see https://www.youressexlibrary.org/adult-services/adults-featured-events/.