HARTFORD — The 1920s apartment building on the edge of Hartford Hospital‘s campus isn’t much to look at these days: forlorn, boarded up and apparently rotten from the inside out.
But the structure, owned by the hospital since 2010, is emerging as a rallying flashpoint in the surrounding Frog Hollow neighborhood. The neighborhood is urging the hospital to take better care of historic buildings on its campus, especially vacant, decaying ones — and find new uses for them.
Hartford Hospital, part of Hartford HealthCare, has pushed to demolish the 4-story apartment building at the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets, pointing to two engineering studies.
The studies concluded that the brick structure was unsafe, its walls crumbling and its interior floors collapsing. Restoring the structure would be tantamount to rebuilding it, according to the studies, a project that couldn’t be justified because it would cost too much.
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The hospital also is under pressure from the city to do something with the building, after being cited for safety concerns, deterioration and blight.
The 1920s apartment building at 224 Washington St, at left in this aerial photo, could be demolished. (Sean Patrick Fowler/ Special to The Courant)
Preservationists and neighborhood leaders oppose the demolition. They argue the hospital has no estimates for what saving the structure might cost and, even worse, no firm future plans for what would be done with property after a demolition, other than creating a grassy area.
“We had so many buildings in Hartford that were demolished because they had to come to down for ‘We’re going to make some future development’,” Mary A. Falvey, executive director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, said. “Building comes down. And in the blink of an eye, the developer is gone, and we’re left with open parking lots.”
The push to demolish comes just days after the approval of a massive parking garage just two blocks away to accommodate a major expansion of the Connecticut Children’s hospital.
While compromises were made — including the relocation of three historic homes — some in the neighborhood are still smarting from a project that will push into one of Frog Hollow’s historic districts and a predominantly residential area.
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Cannon Design
A rendering shows the planned Connecticut Children’s parking garage at the corner of Washington and Lincoln streets in Hartford. The parking garage is connected to the hospital with a pedestrian skywalk over Washington Street. (Cannon Design)
The apartment building at 224 Washington St. also is part of an historic district. The Jefferson-Seymour National Historic District dates back to the late 1970s and includes dozens of structures around Hartford Hospital.
Marcus Ordoñez, co-chair of the Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, said the group, which is involved in planning to promote vibrancy, opposes demolition, considering Frog Hollow’s historic architecture to be among its greatest assets.
“Our first priority is to preserve,” Ordoñez said. “But in the hopefully unlikelihood that it does get taken down, we want to ensure that something does go there, and that it is something that would not only benefit the patients — if that’s what they choose to do — but the neighborhood.”
The tension between saving the past and redeveloping to move ahead is thrown into particularly sharp relief on urban hospital campuses — especially ones with long histories like Hartford Hospital, founded in 1854.
Late last week, the hospital backed off a bit on the Washington Street property after encountering stiff opposition at separate meetings with the NRZ and the historic preservation commission.
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Hartford’s Jefferson Street runs through Hartford Hospital’s campus and is the heart of an historic district. (Sean Patrick Fowler/Special to The Courant)
The hospital told the commission, which would have to sign off on any demolition, that it would seek out further options.
‘Definitely haven’t’
Hartford Hospital has come under sharp criticism that it created its own problems when it comes the deterioration of its historic structures by not keeping up with maintenance.
When asked about that criticism, Keith Grant, the hospital’s vice president of operations, acknowledged that upkeep has fallen short.
But Grant said that was because Hartford Hospital was making other investments in the local community — particularly during Covid — that came at the expense of the historic structures. Now, in the aftermath of the pandemic, the buildings should become a higher priority.
“And that’s probably what we’re going to need to do,” Grant said.
Hartford Hospital’s vice president of operations talks about options for the historic 224 Washington Street while walking along Hartford’s Jefferson Street. (Sean Patrick Fowler/Special to The Courant)
Grant said an overall campus plan that includes the historic buildings is in the works. But Grant points to changes that are soon to be underway: Tidier landscaping at vacant properties and the replacement of windows that are now boarded up.
One of the bigger investments will be $2 million to restore the exterior if Levi Lincoln Felt House, at 142 Jefferson. The shingled, Queen Anne-style house stands out from the brick and brownstone construction of adjoining properties. The house was singled out as one of the most notable when the Jefferson-Seymour district was formed in 1979.
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Felt began his business career at the age of 15 as an office boy for a Hartford start-up with a bright future — Travelers Insurance — and he retired 48 years later as its comptroller.
But his house, acquired by Hartford Hospital in 2010, has not fared as well. Now boarded up, ornamented chimneys — features that contribute to its architectural value — have been removed. Wooden decorative elements are rotting and planks on the front porch are warping.
Grant, walking along Jefferson St. on Friday, said the Felt House could be used for offices. But converting other brownstone and brick structures nearby to clinical space is more challenging because they are not large enough, Grant said.
Hartford Hospital is investing $2 million to restore the battered exterior of the Levi Lincoln Felt House, a centerpiece of the Jefferson-Seymour National Historic District. (Sean Patrick Fowler/Special to The Courant)
That is certainly the case with the Washington Street apartment building, Grant said. But a potential solution might rest with the building next to the Felt House, Grant said.
Two Italianate-style homes were demolished but replaced with replicas using some of the original building materials. The new building now houses a community health center that logged 17,000 primary care adult patient visits in fiscal 2022, demonstrating a clear need for the services, according to the hospital.
The idea might make preservationists bristle, but Grant said it could make a stretch of Jefferson Street a central location for an expansion of much-needed community health services.
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Two, historic Italianate-style homes were demolished and their bricks were used to construct a new Hartford Hospital community health center on Jefferson Street in Hartford. (Sean Patrick Fowler/Special to The Courant)
Nevertheless, the hospital is committed to keeping a historic feel along Jefferson, the heart of the historic district, Grant said.
“So even if demolition is done, I don’t think it’s demolition with the entirety of the building,” Grant said, of 224 Washington St. “It might be a complete strip down or even take it down and use the brick to put the facade back.”
A comprehensive plan for the historic structures is vital to preserving them because vacant buildings are vulnerable, the preservation alliance’s Falvey said.
A waiting room in the community health center on Jefferson Street at Hartford Hospital. (Sean Patrick Fowler/Special to The Courant)
Falvey is tracking a dozen on the hospital’s campus, but there was a recent casualty.
A short walk away from the Jefferson Street clinic, a fire in an historic apartment building at 134 Seymour St. so compromised the structure, the city ordered that it be razed. A pile of rubble was still seen Friday rising above a sheathed construction fence.
Falvey also noted that visible building deterioration has a broader, harmful effect on perception of the city.
“People don’t realize that Hartford Hospital owns all these buildings,” Falvey said. “And it’s just dragging down Hartford as a whole because people coming in from the suburbs to Hartford Hospital say, ‘Oh well, yeah, this is Hartford.’ ”
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Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
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Bodycam footage from the Waterbury Police Department shows suspected Connecticut child abuser Kimberly Sullivan denying that her stepson, who was allegedly locked in a storage closet in their home for 20 years, was imprisoned in the house.
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According to the footage obtained by Fox News Digital, one of Sullivan’s two daughters arrived at the scene shortly after authorities on Feb. 17, when police said her 32-year-old stepson set fire in the house to escape decades of captivity and abuse.
Sullivan’s daughter picked her up in a black Acura, where they waited nearby as firefighters extinguished the blaze, and as Sullivan’s unnamed stepson was rescued from the home.
In the footage, which is partially redacted, Sullivan, 56, explains to an officer what happened after the fire started.
‘MALNOURISHED’ MAN HELD CAPTIVE BY STEPMOM FOR DECADES SET FIRE TO HOME TO ESCAPE: ‘I WANTED MY FREEDOM’
Kimberly Sullivan was arrested after allegedly abusing her stepson in their Waterbury, Connecticut home.(Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
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She said that she thought the fire started from a TV her stepson plugged into the wall, and said that she came out of her bedroom when she smelled smoke and called out for him.
“I was trying to go into the room but it was just – there were just flames – he came out of the room, eventually woke up and came out of the room,” she said.
Sullivan said that her son couldn’t escape the room because there were flames, but that he must have walked through them eventually.
“Was the door locked on his room, or no?” the officer asked.
“No,” Sullivan replied.
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“OK, is it normally locked?” he asked.
“No,” she answered.
“And he has free rein to go out of there whenever he wants?” the detective asked.
“Yeah,” Sullivan said.
But police allege that Sullivan was lying during that exchange.
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MAN DESCRIBES SHOCKING LIVING CONDITIONS HE ENDURED DURING 20-YEAR HOME CAPTIVITY: ‘UNIMAGINABLE’
This photo provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows Kimberly Sullivan, who was charged Wednesday, March 12, 2025, with kidnapping and cruelty for allegedly holding her 32-year-old stepson captive for more than 20 years. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
Sullivan was arrested on March 12 and charged with first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons and first-degree reckless endangerment. She is free on $300,000 bond, and pleaded not guilty to all charges on Friday.
According to an arrest warrant for Sullivan, the victim, identified as “Male Victim 1,” was held in a windowless 8-foot by 9-foot storage closet with no air conditioning or heat and without access to a bathroom for 20 years. He was kept inside the closet 22-24 hours per day.
He was allowed two sandwiches and two small water bottles each day, one of which he would use for bathing. He disposed of his waste using water bottles and newspaper. The man weighed less than 70 pounds when first responders found him after the fire.
That warrant also says that Sullivan’s stepson told them he set the fire on purpose, because he wanted his freedom.
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“A CHILD CALLED ‘IT’” AUTHOR SAYS CONNECTICUT HOUSE OF HORRORS CASE IS ‘ATTEMPTED MURDER’
Kimberly Sullivan is taken into custody by the Waterbury Police Department on March 12.(Waterbury Police Department)
Fox News Digital also obtained Sullivan’s distraught 911 call reporting that her house was on fire.
LISTEN: Kimberly Sullivan calls 911 to report house fire
More bodycam footage shows a police officer arriving to the scene and yelling at an unidentified person through a window, telling the person to exit the home.
WATCH: Waterbury officer yells at person to exit burning home
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In a heavily redacted portion of the bodycam footage, police officers can be seen standing outside the ambulance looking in at the victim, who is blurred and being tended to by a paramedic. When audio reemerges from the redaction, one officer tells another that the victim said he hadn’t showered in a year.
WATCH: Kimberly Sullivan’s stepson interviewed by police in ambulance
Another video shows a frantic Sullivan asking to go back into the house to retrieve her purse and her keys, so she can put her dog inside her car.
WATCH: Kimberly Sullivan frantically asks to retrieve purse from burning home
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Police previously released footage showing Sullivan’s stepson being carried out of the home and into an ambulance.
Fox News Digital reached out to Sullivan’s attorney Ioannis Kaloidis through a spokesperson.
Police in Waterbury, Connecticut, have released photos from inside a house where a man was allegedly held captive by his stepmother for 20 years.
The unnamed man, who in February escaped the house by starting a fire with printer paper and hand sanitizer, told police he was locked in a small room secured with plywood and a lock.
For years, the man was given minimal food and water, he told police.
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The more than 100 photos obtained through CNN affiliate WFSB reveal the true extent of how dire conditions were for the man who police say emerged “extremely emaciated” –– 32-years-old, 5-foot-9, and weighing roughly 70 pounds.
Many of the photos WFSB received from Waterbury police show the inside of the house in evidently poor condition –– with some rooms clearly charred from a fire, and others cluttered and decrepit from a lack of care and maintenance.
Mold and broken floorboards are seen throughout the house, with some carpeted areas covered in dirt and trash. Part of the house’s ceiling appeared broken, with beams exposed. Many of the windows are covered with plywood.
In one photo, a bedroom with a bright pink wall is littered with random objects, including a printer. Another photo of a bathroom shows broken wall insulation, glass and cardboard boxes on the floor.
It is unclear which room belonged to the man who was purportedly held captive, though several close-ups of charred door frames and locks were captured by police.
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The man’s stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, managed to escape her burning house and has since been accused by authorities of locking her stepson up and starving him for decades.
Last week she pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and felony assault charges and was released on a $300,000 bond.
“As horrible as the allegations are, and as much as people don’t want to hear it, she is not guilty in the eyes of the law, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, no matter how many millions of people hate her,” Sullivan’s attorney Ioannis Kaloidis said.
The Waterbury Department of Children and Families recently said it found archived records from 2005 naming Kimberly Sullivan and her stepson, according to WFSB, after previously stating that unsubstantiated claims were deleted five years after the police were in the house for a welfare check.
“After we have completed a comprehensive assessment of our prior involvement, the Department will be as transparent as possible in sharing our results while working within the parameters of both federal and state confidentiality laws,” DCF Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly said in a statement to WFSB.
The man told police he met with DCF twice when he was in fourth grade to complain about his living conditions before his stepmother pulled him out of school.
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He told police his stepmother instructed him at that time to tell the department everything was fine. Police conducting the welfare checks reported there was nothing suspicious.
The last time the man left the property was with his father, when he was around 14 or 15. After his father died in 2024, the alleged captivity got more restrictive, he told police.
The man stated “it got to a point where the only time he would ever be out of the house once his father died was to let the family dog out in the back of the property,” according to an affidavit.
Those outings were “only about 1 minute a day” as he “essentially, was locked in his room between 22 to 24 hours a day,” the sworn statement said.
A year ago, the man told police, he found a lighter in a jacket that belonged to his late father. That’s when he started devising a plan to escape.
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“There’s a lot of physical therapy that he’ll have to go through,” Waterbury Police Chief Fred Spagnolo said. “There’s a lot of healing that he’ll have to go through mentally.”
Waterbury detectives, themselves shaken by the inhumanity they say they’ve been investigating, took up a collection to buy the man clothes, books and other items that might make him more comfortable.
As for the newly freed man, Waterbury Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski said, “We’re committed to supporting him in every way possible as he begins to heal from this unimaginable trauma.”
