Stone, Stucco & Sound: A Mason’s Tour of West Haven’s Landmark Craftsmanship
- Donald Turcotte
- May 24
- 2 min read
Savin Rock’s Amusement-Age Concrete Legacy
Once dubbed “Connecticut’s Coney Island,” Savin Rock grew from Colonel George Kelsey’s 1870s seaside resort into a full-blown amusement park that operated until 1967. Its roller-coaster footings, board-walk promenades, and concrete seawalls were all poured in place to stand up to Long Island Sound’s salt spray.
Today’s Boardwalk
The city has continually replaced damaged slabs with fiber-reinforced concrete panels, ensuring a smoother ride for wheelchairs, strollers, and bikes while preserving the park’s coastal charm.
Ward-Heitmann House: Timber Frame, Massive Brick Chimney
West Haven’s oldest surviving building (c. 1684-1725) showcases early New England construction: hand-hewn timbers, lime-based mortar, and a center-chimney built of locally fired brick that once anchored every hearth in the house.
Monuments of Service on the Green and in Oak Grove Cemetery
Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument (1890)
A tapered column of Westerly-quarried Anquilla granite rises above Oak Grove Cemetery, honoring Civil War veterans; bronze plaques and a sphere-finial crown the stonework.
Firefighters’ & World War I Memorials
Granite tablets, a bell tower, and a stone bandstand punctuate the West Haven Green Historic District, demonstrating turn-of-the-century stonemasonry in public space.
Sacred Stone & Stucco
Church | Year | Masonry Highlights |
St. Lawrence (Main St.) | 1903 | Rock-faced brownstone foundation, brick nave walls, and sandstone trim—now slated for adaptive reuse due to costly masonry |
Our Lady of Victory (Jones Hill Rd.) | 1920s | Polychrome brick façade and cast-stone detailing produced by local masons for West Haven’s growing Catholic community. |
Both illustrate how immigrant craftsmen blended structural brick with ornamental stone to create enduring worship spaces.
Civic Neo-Classicism: Old West Haven High School
Completed in 1926, the load-bearing brick and terra-cotta high school rises from an ashlar-patterned concrete podium. Fluted columns, egg-and-dart moldings, and glazed terra-cotta panels show the height of inter-war masonry artistry.
Bradley Point Park’s Granite Veterans Walk
Along the bluestone promenade, polished black-granite panels and engraved bricks form the Veterans Walk of Honor—a 100-yard timeline of conflicts from the Revolution to Vietnam, all set on a reinforced concrete walkway that overlooks the spot where British troops landed in 1779.
20th-Century Brutalism Reborn: Hotel Marcel
Just over the West Haven line, Marcel Breuer’s 1968 Armstrong Rubber (Pirelli Tire) Building is pure sculptural concrete—precast fascias hung off a cast-in-place core. Today it’s Hotel Marcel, the nation’s first net-zero-energy hotel after a deep-green rehabilitation that preserved every exposed panel.
Breakwaters & Seawalls: Stone Engineering on the Sound
A series of quarried-stone breakwaters (built in the 1880s) calms the harbor and protects Savin Rock’s beachscape—early evidence of coastal-defense masonry that still performs today.
Since 1984, Turcotte Masonry Stucco & Concrete has patched, pinned, and perfectly color-matched West Haven stucco from Ocean Avenue to Captain Thomas Boulevard. Whether you’re reviving a 1920s beach cottage, repointing a mid-century parish hall, or adding texture to a modern storefront, our union-trained masons have your back.
Call (203) 937-0787 or visit turcottemasonry.com for a free, no-obligation estimate today.
Stone endures—so should the people who build with it.
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