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On The Market: Hartford Building Was Part Of 1860s Streetscape

By Kenneth R. Gosselin

September 12, 2012

Downtown Hartford’s skyline today is dominated by skyscrapers, including the state’s tallest tower, CityPlace I.

But it still is possible to get a sense of what the city looked like in the mid-19th century when buildings rarely rose above five stories.

One such building is the brownstone faced and trimmed Italianate-style structure at 6 Central Row, now listed for sale.

In the 1860s, the entire block on the south side of Central Row between Main and Prospect street was of a similar scale. The appearance of the block — opposite the Old State House — changed dramatically in the 1920s with the construction of two, Colonial Revival-style skyscrapers — the Hartford Connecticut Trust Building and the Travelers Insurance Building — on either side of 6 Central Row.

Though now dwarfed by the two and sandwiched in-between, 6 Central Row dictated the height of the base of the trust building. Later, the street-level floor of 6 Central Row was altered, rendered in the same limestone as the trust building’s base.

For decades, 6 Central Row was home to the venerable brokerage Putnam, Coffin & Burr and its successor, Advest Inc. In the 1940s, the brokerage had a “leader board” listing all the of most active stocks. When stock trades were reported by the ticker tape machine, the prices were called out by one person and the leader board was changed by another.

The 12,300-square-foot building is on the market with an asking price of $900,000. The current owners, Blair Central Row LLC of Hackettstown, N.J. paid a little over $1 million in 2006. The building is 50 percent occupied with short-term tenants.

Patrick Mulready of CBRE in Hartford has the listing.