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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Elias Sprague House

Coventry, Connecticut, listed on the NRHP in Tolland County

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ14714897 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Elias Sprague House is a historic house at 2187 South Street in Coventry, Connecticut. Built in 1821, it is a well-preserved example of a vernacular early 19th-century Connecticut home. Now privately owned, the house for a time housed the local historical society. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Description and history

The Elias Sprague House is located in a rural setting in southwestern Coventry, on the south side of South Street a short way east of Nathan Hale State Forest. It is a 1+1⁄2-story wood frame Cape style house, with a gabled roof, central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance. The interior follows a typical central chimney plan, with a narrow entrance vestibule, parlors on either side of the chimney, and the kitchen behind it. Original period features include wooden paneling and trim, and several doors with original strap hinges.

The house was built in 1821, and is a well-preserved example of vernacular country architecture of the period.

Editorial summary

“Elias Sprague House” enters the record as coventry, Connecticut, listed on the NRHP in Tolland County. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Elias, Sprague and House can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1821, 1987—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Elias, Sprague and House.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Elias Sprague House” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Elias, Sprague and House provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14714897. The first chronological checks are 1821 and 1987.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Elias Sprague House”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Elias Sprague House primary sources, Elias Sprague House archive and Elias research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Elias Sprague House”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Elias Sprague House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.