Smith & Bassette

H. Hilliard Smith Harry Hilliard Smith was born November 16, 1871, in Middletown, Connecticut, to Henry Hosea and Phillippa G. (Hilliard) Smith. He attended the public schools of Middletown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. After his graduation he returned to Connecticut and entered the office of William C. Brocklesby, a Hartford architect, and formed a partnership with him in 1904. Brocklesby & Smith was active until Brocklesby's death in late 1910. Early the following year, he established his partnership with Roy D. Bassette. He retired from active practice in 1942. After Smith's retirement in 1942, Bassette continued to practice under the name of Smith & Bassette. After 1946 he practiced under his own name until his own retirement in 1954. Bassette was married in 1914 to Elizabeth Fidelia Hubbard of West Hartford, Connecticut. He died May 18, 1965, in Hartford. ==Legacy==

It has been said of Smith & Bassette that "[they] became known for [their] design of multi-purpose public buildings and their skill in the Classical and Colonial Revival genres. For example, in 1917 the firm shared first place with Paul P. Cret for the design of a Classical Revival building in the Hartford County Building Competition." The Hartford historian David F. Ransom has indicated that Smith & Bassette was probably the most prestigious architectural practice in Hartford in the period between the two World Wars. At least three of the firm's projects have been individually listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places: ==Architectural works==

• Heublein Tower, Talcott Mountain State Park, Simsbury, Connecticut (1914–15, NRHP-listed 1983) • Simsbury Bank and Trust Company Building, Simsbury, Connecticut (1917, NRHP-listed 1986) • Longmeadow Community House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts (1921–22) • Steiger Building, Hartford, Connecticut (1926–28) • Hartford County Building, Hartford, Connecticut (1927-1929) • William Stanton Andrews Memorial Town Hall, Clinton, Connecticut (1936–38) • Wickham Memorial Library, East Hartford, Connecticut (1939-1940) ==Gallery of architectural works==

File:Heublein Tower on Talcott Mountain (cropped).jpg|Heublein Tower, Talcott Mountain State Park, Simsbury, CT, 1914–15 File:Landmark Building - Simsbury, CT - DSC00574.jpg|Simsbury Bank and Trust Company Building, Simsbury, CT, 1917 File:Richard D Tulisano Courthouse, Hartford Connecticut.jpg|Hartford County Building, Hartford, CT, 1927–29 File:State Office Building, Hartford, Conn (67351).jpg|Connecticut State Office Building, Hartford, CT, 1930–31 File:The Eno Memorial Hall, Simsbury CT.jpg|Eno Memorial Hall, Simsbury, CT, 1931–32 ==Notes==