The 12 Most Beautiful Architectural Landmarks in Connecticut

Connecticut’s Most Stunning Buildings

Being one of the most beautiful states in the nation, it’s no surprise that Connecticut’s got some gorgeous architecture too. Here are some of our favorites.

Libraries and Study Halls at Yale University

Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library looks like a cathedral from medieval Europe, complete with 100-foot spires that rise above New Haven. Built in 1931, the 15-story tower has stone carvings of scholars and writers, colorful stained glass, and iron details made by Samuel Yellin.

Students work under huge bronze lamps in the entrance hall, which stretches 60 feet and has a ceiling painted with star maps. The library holds 15 million books, including a Gutenberg Bible and early copies of Shakespeare’s plays. While most areas are for students only, anyone can visit the first floor to see its remarkable design.

The Mark Twain House

The Mark Twain House, built in 1874, shows off the fancy style of America’s Gilded Age. Architect Edward Tuckerman Potter used black and red Scottish bricks to create striking patterns on the outside.

The famous author wrote ‘Huckleberry Finn’ here, in a room filled with books on the third floor. Throughout the house, you’ll find walls decorated by Tiffany’s company, rich wooden panels, and an Italian marble fountain in the plant room. It cost $45,000 to build then, which would be millions of dollars today.

The Glass House in New Canaan

Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan is simply a glass box held up by black steel posts, yet it changed how architects think about indoor and outdoor spaces. Built in 1949, the house sits in a 49-acre garden with sculptures and a pond.

Johnson lived here until 2005, carefully planning every detail down to the height of the grass. Only the bathroom, hidden in a brick cylinder, has walls. The rest of the 1,815-square-foot house is completely see-through, furnished with pieces by designer Mies van der Rohe.

Yale’s Beinecke Library

Yale’s Beinecke Library, designed by Gordon Bunshaft, protects rare books in an unusual way. The building has no regular windows. Instead, its walls are made of thin marble that lets in a soft, amber light while keeping out harmful sun rays.

At the center stands a tower of glass and steel that holds 180,000 old books. The books stay safe behind bulletproof glass in rooms where the temperature never changes. When sunlight hits the marble walls, the whole building glows.

The Goodspeed Opera House

The Goodspeed Opera House has stood 200 feet above the Connecticut River since 1877. Its yellow pine roof and wooden decorations make it a perfect example of French-inspired architecture from that time.

The theater’s round tower once helped guide boats on the river. While the building looks old outside, it was updated in 1963. The special design allows all 398 seats to have a clear view of the stage.

The Wadsworth Atheneum

The Wadsworth Atheneum, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and Ithiel Town, opened in 1842. It looks like a castle with pointed towers made from granite from nearby Portland, Connecticut.

The museum has grown to include five connected buildings, each showing a different style of architecture. Tall 75-foot open spaces bring natural light into the galleries.

In the Morgan Great Hall, paintings hang all the way up to the 40-foot ceiling, just as they did in old European galleries.

Trinity College’s Gothic Chapel

Trinity College Chapel, finished in 1932, shows how American architects adapted medieval church design. Philip Frohman built it using limestone from Indiana and brown stone from local quarries.

Its tower reaches 163 feet high, making it the tallest building on campus. Inside, the wooden seats have carvings that show college life. The round window above the entrance, called the Rose Window, uses 3,808 pieces of colored glass to tell the story of creation. The chapel’s organ, built in Hartford, has 4,416 pipes.

The Yale Center for British Art

The Yale Center for British Art was Louis Kahn’s last building, completed in 1977. The outside uses steel and glass panels that create interesting shadows throughout the day.

Four open courtyards bring natural light into the galleries through concrete ceiling patterns. The walls are covered with white oak and Belgian linen to show off the art better. The building has no permanent walls in the gallery areas, so the space can be changed when needed. Art galleries and research rooms share the four floors.

A Castle Built by an Actor

William Gillette, a famous actor, designed his unusual stone castle between 1914 and 1919. He used local stone and created 47 different doors, making each one unique. The castle has built-in couches made to fit Gillette perfectly and special door handles made by local craftsmen.

Hidden mirrors let Gillette watch his guests from his study upstairs. The wooden parts inside are made of white oak, rubbed with silver to make them shine. From its hill, the castle looks down on the Connecticut River.

Three Historic Churches on the Green

New Haven Green has three important churches built in the early 1800s. Center Church (1812), United Church (1815), and Trinity Church (1814) show different styles of early American architecture. Center Church has a 200-foot spire, while Trinity Church is known for its stone decoration.

Under Center Church, you can find gravestones from 1687 marking where New Haven’s founders are buried. United Church has huge columns in front, making it one of the best examples of Federal-style buildings in New England.

Yale School of Architecture

Paul Rudolph’s Yale School of Architecture, built in 1963, shows what can be done with concrete. Workers created rough patterns in the concrete by hitting it with ridged boards. The building has 37 different levels spread across seven floors. Inside, platforms and open spaces create interesting shadows as the light changes.

Though people argued about its unusual design when it was new, it’s now considered an important building. In 2008, workers carefully fixed it to look just as it did when it was built.

The Thompson Exhibition Building

The Thompson Exhibition Building at Mystic Seaport opened in 2016. Centerbrook Architects designed it to look like a wooden ship’s hull. The curved wooden roof spans 100 feet without any supports inside, using Douglas fir beams.

Glass walls offer wide views of Mystic River. The building uses earth heat for warming and cooling. Inside, the lights and walls can be moved to show different types of items, from small objects to whole boats.