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Disclaimer: Content for these properties was compiled in 2014-2017 from a variety of sources and is subject to change. Updates are occasionally made under Property Information, however the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation (dba Preservation Connecticut) makes no representation or warranty that the information is complete or up-to-date.

Complex Name (Common)
Imperial Agriculture
Complex Name (Historic)
  • Imperial Agriculture
Address or Location
650 Windsor Street, Hartford
County
Hartford
Historic Designation
Associated Mill Community
n/a
Historic Information

Companies Associated w/Complex

  • Culbro Tobacco Warehouse, div. of Culbro Corp. ca. 1980-late-20th c.
  • Imperial Agricultural Corp. ca. 1948-1966
  • L.B. Haas & Co. 1968-ca. 1979

Use (Historic)

Largest Documented Workforce

Unknown.

Historic Narrative

The Imperial Agricultural Corporation was a tobacco growing and processing company established in Windsor, Connecticut by New York-based investors in 1941. The firm was led by Carel Goldschmidt, president; Ernest Jacobs, vice-president and secretary; and Charles J. Grimes, treasurer. Shortly after its organization, the company acquired several farms and packing plants in Hartford and Windsor, Connecticut, among these an office and packing facility in Hartford located near Windsor Street’s intersection with Main Street (801 Windsor Street), which had formerly been owned by the Allied Tobacco Company. The Imperial Agricultural Corporation built the substantial brick warehouse near Windsor Street’s intersection with Warren Street ca. 1948, a time in which it was just one of a number of tobacco processing and packing plants located in the area. Although the Connecticut holdings of the Imperial Agricultural Corporation were acquired by the conglomerate American Sumatra Tobacco Company in 1956, the Imperial Agricultural Corporation moniker was preserved and the firm occupied the building until 1966. The property subsequently fell vacant for several years, however, the parcel appears to have been merged with 650 Windsor Street ca. 1968, at which time the warehouse was acquired by the tobacco firm of L.B. Hass and Company. L.B. Hass and Company had occupied the warehouse to the north for several decades and maintained the former Imperial Agricultural Corporation warehouse into the late-1970s. Around 1980 it passed to the Culbro Tobacco Warehouse division of the Culbro Corporation.

Architectural Information

Number of Existing Buildings

Two (2) adjoining primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1948, 1965-1990.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

Architectural Description

The former Imperial Agricultural Corporation warehouse and packing facility is comprised of two adjoining blocks located on the west side of Windsor Street, directly south of Windsor Street’s intersection with Warren Street. The main portion of the plant was built ca. 1948 and consists of a two-story, 240’ x 128’ red brick block with a trapezoidal footprint and flat roof. The building has a concrete foundation, small rectangular window openings with concrete sills and multi-pane metal sash with hopper style openings, and a stepped brick parapet with tile coping. A stringcourse comprised of red bricks laid in soldier course forms a continuous lintel above the building’s second-story windows. A one-story, 44’ x 80’ concrete block addition was erected adjoining the warehouse’s south elevation at some point between 1965 and 1990. This has a pair of roll-up metal doors on its west (front) elevation, small pass-through and roll-up doors on the eastern end of its south elevation, and a flat roof. A metal staircase leads onto the addition’s roof and across a metal catwalk that provides access to a small pass-through door on the second-story level of the main building.

Exterior Material(s)

Structural System(s)

Roof Form

Roof Material

Power Source

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. The majority of the exterior walls are in need of cleaning and repairs and a number of the original windows have been replaced or infilled, however, the plant appears reasonably well maintained and structurally sound.

Property Information

Specific Location

One legal parcel (650 Windsor Street) totaling 0.794 acres located on the east side of Windsor Street, directly south of Windsor Street’s intersection with Warren Street.

Adjacent To

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

  • 264/74/99 (for record, use link and type in address or parcel number) / Link →

Acreage

0.794

Use (Present)

Sources

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

08/31/2015

Bibliography

  1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
  2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
  3. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
  4. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
  5. Map of Hartford County, H & C.T. Smith, 1855.
  6. Atlas of Hartford County, Beers, Baker & Tilden, 1869.
  7. Sanborn Map Company, 1885, 1900, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1950.
  8. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1965.
  9. Hartford City Directories, Various editions.
  10. The Hartford Courant, 1916, 1917, 1941, 1943.
Representative View(s)Click on image to view full file


Photographer

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Photography Date

08/31/2015