Eugene B. Ripley House, 111 Lovely Street

Eugene B. Ripley House, c. 1874. Italianate Victorian style with wood clapboard siding and decoratively cut and carved trim and structural elements. The roof ridge line is hipped at each side of the house and a large gabled dormer is centered over the front façade and full entry porch. Its emphasis of vertical scale is typical of Italianate Victorian design with tall and narrow 1 lite over 1 lite double hung windows, high ceilings on every floor and two brick chimneys over three stories in height. Additionally, there is significant Eastlake/Stick Victorian style influences in much of the exterior wood trim work and full front entry porch construction.

Ripley was born in 1848 in Bentonsport Iowa to the Reverend Erastus and Harriet (Riggs) Ripley. The family moved to New Britain by 1862 the year Eugene established himself as a bookkeeper for the Stanley Rule and Level Company.

Ripley had extensive business interests in Unionville. In 1871, he became a stockholder in John Bunnell’s wood turning business. The following year, he established the Ripley Manufacturing Company, which became known for manufacturing heavy paper used in the production of binders’ boards. In 1877 he and his brother-in-law, Frank Chamberlain, gained control of Platner and Porter Manufacturing Company, a paper product manufacturer, with Ripley as its president. He was involved in the Union Waterpower Company where he was president from 1882 until 1890. After Ripley’s death in 1901, the Ripley paper mills were purchased by Charles W. House and Sons, producers of felts.

In 1872 Ripley bought two lots on Lovely St. One from Mary Bunnell, the other from Daniel Rouke. In 1874 the property was mortgaged to Caleb Wheeler for $2000. In the spring of 1875, the property was mortgaged “with buildings”, dating the house.