"The Simsbury Townhouse is a wood-frame Greek Revival-style building located at the south end of the town center, set well back from the west side of Hopmeadow Street, the main thoroughfare. Built in 1839, it was first located on top of the hill which rises behind the present site. Although it was moved in the nineteenth century, the Townhouse always remained in the immediate vicinity of the First Congregational Church, now known as the the First Church of Christ and located south of this building. After a possible intermediate move in 1843, it was sited in its present location to the north of the church in 1869...
A well-preserved representative example of early nineteenth-century institutional architecture, the Simsbury Townhouse is distinguished by its boldly executed Greek Revival style. The oldest surviving public building in Simsbury, it was the site of town meetings for almost 100 years.
Illustrating the prevailing, almost universal style favored for public buildings and churches in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the Simsbury Townhouse also reflects the sure eye and craftsmanship of an unknown master carpenter/builder in its vernacular Greek Revival design and proportions. Its exceptionally broad pediment, defined by the characteristic shallow slope of the gable roof and accentuated by the low massing of the building, captures the essence of the Greek temple form. The columns, which are a departure from the customary proportions (eight diameters to the height) and which at first seem too massive, even squat, are in fact perfectly scaled to the visual weight and massing of the pediment. The rest of the building is quite plain. For example, although panels in the porch ceiling at either end would suggest the use of corner pilasters to complete the design, these features were omitted in favor of an unadorned flushboarded facade.
Following the disestablishment of the Congregational Church in Connecticut in 1818, most towns decided to physically separate the dual civic and religious functions of their meetinghouses by building townhouses or dedicating space in churches. A common solution was to set aside the basement room for town meetings in the many new Congregational churches that were built in this period. However, when the new meetinghouse was built in Simsbury in the 1830s, the First Ecclesiastical Society voted that it should not be used for town meetings, even though the town had made that request. Until Simsbury elected to build a separate townhouse, as the building was called until 1882, town meetings were held "near the meetinghouse" in an unspecified building, except for a brief period when meetings were held in other parts of town on a rotation basis, a procedure that was quickly abandoned.
In 1839 a town meeting was held to approve the building of a new townhouse, 34'x 50' with a six-foot porch or portico, almost exactly the size of the present building, although the porch was extended to nine feet in the final design. The cost was not to exceed $500 for design and construction, but later appropriations were made from the Town Deposit Fund for a final expense of $1329.81. The moving of the building nearer the highway in 1843 is traditionally accepted as fact. Apparently requested by the church, this move was discussed in town meeting but is not confirmed by town meeting records. The expense of the move was to be borne by the church society but it is not definitely known whether the money was raised or even that the move actually took place. The 1869 relocation, again at the expense of the First Ecclesiastical Society, is, of course, confirmed by the present siting.
In the following years the building was used for many purposes in addition to its civic function and has undergone several minor changes. In 1882, the first time it was called the town hall in the minutes of the town meeting, new seats were installed. The first Roman Catholic services in Simsbury were held here in 1902. By 1906 it also was used for recreational purposes. The stage was reduced in size so that the new game of basketball, originated by James Naismith in 1891, could be played there. How this was accomplished until the seats were replaced by more readily movable chairs in 1915 is not known. In 1934, three years after it ceased to function as a town hall, the building was rented to the local troop of Boy Scouts and became known as Boy Scout Hall. Town meetings and other civic functions were then being held in the new Eno Memorial Hall, dedicated in 1932, a bequest to the Town of Simsbury from Antoinette Eno Wood, one of Simsbury's leading citizens and philanthropists. Currently Boy Scout Hall is managed by the Culture and Recreation Department and is rented out for various purposes." - National Register Nomination
The building was restored in 2001 and is in very good condition.