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292 Pearl Street Alonzo Allen House, circa 1850   By Eric L. Martin

This Gothic Revival style house was constructed in approximately 1850 and retains its essential integrity (1). Its first known occupant was J. J. Dunklee, who conducted the Auction and Commission Store in the Thomas Building on College Street (2). By 1865 Alonzo W. Allen resided here and worked in the leather tannery of Loomis & Co. until 1873 when he co-founded Allen & Green, a leather finding store located at 122 College Street (3). Allen died on April 21, 1882, and in 1884 the estate of Allen's widow, Margaret H. Allen, sold the home to Mary A. Connolly, who resided here until 1901, despite selling the "brick dwelling" to Josephine E. Van Meenen in 1898 for $3,500 (4). After purchasing the structure in 1902, W. C. Isham, A. S. Isham, and E. A. Isham sold it to George B. and Ina W. Catlin in 1903; Catlin, a lumber and lime businessman, was the first to use part of this building for commercial purposes as he resided and kept his office here (5). In 1922 Ina, now a widow, purchased a ten feet wide portion of land along the entire western edge of the property to ensure adequate vehicular access to the outbuildings at the northern end of the property (6). The house was sold in 1950 to Walter A. Myers, who promptly sold it two months later to Dr. Katherine E. McSweeney, a physician with an office in the McSweeney building across the road at 295 Pearl Street (7). At that time it was converted into two apartments, and in 1961 part of the building was permanently converted to commercial use when McSweeney Apartments located its office here (8). For $24,000 Dr. E. Douglas McSweeney, Jr. purchased the property in 1972 and sold it twenty years later to Charles H. Bradley for $165,000 (9). Linda Moore, the current owner of the property, which houses a veterinary clinic, bought the property in 1997 for $184,700 (10).