| Notes |
- National Cyclopedia of American Biography
Picture included
BASSETTE, Roy Donald, architect, was born in New Britain, Conn., Jan.
10, 1883, son of Frederick Henry and Margaret (Anderson) Bassette. His first
paternal American ancestor, William Bassett, came to this country from England
in 1621, settled first in Plymouth, Mass., and was later a resident of
Duxbury, Mass., and an original proprietor of Bridgewater, Mass. From him and
his wife, Elizabeth, the descent was through Joseph and Mary Lapham, William
and Sarah Sweetland, William and Mary Crossman, William and Lydia Fisher, and
Nathan and Mehitable Buell, the grandparents of Roy D. Bassette. His father
was a factory worker. The son attended New Britain public schools and
completed his studies in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in
1908. Meanwhile, after his high-school graduation in 1901, he did drawings and
art work for the F.A. Bassetts Co., Springfield, Mass., a printing business
founded and owned by his brother. During 1908-10 he taught drawing and the
elements of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1910 he
established an architectural practice in Springfield, Mass. Two years later he
moved to Hartford, Conn. and from 1912 to 1942 he practiced in that city with
H. Hillard Smith in the architectural firm of Smith-Bassette. After Smith's
retirement in 1942, Bassette continued his architectural practice
independently until his own retirement in 1954. Among public buildings
designed by the Smith-Bassette firm were the Hartford County Courthouse, the
Connecticut State Office Building, the Steiger Building, and Woolverton Hall
for the YWCA, all in Hartford, the Lucy Robbins Welles Library in Newington,
Conn., the Glastonbury (Conn.) Library, the Longmeadow (Mass.) Library, and
the town hall and library in Clinton, Conn., and the partners were also
architects for hundreds of private residences in Hartford, West Hartford, and
the Glen Arden development in Longmeadow. While in independent practice
Bassette was architect for St. Ann's Memorial Hall and an addition to t
Hartford Fire Insurance Co. building, both in Hartford, the athletic building
for Wilbraham (Mass.) Academy, the Wickham Memorial Library in East Hartford,
and numerous other buildings in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Among private
homes which he designed were the Alice Dunham, Alice Fuller, George Sage, and
the Ingersol residences in Hartford, and the Philip Stanley family homes in
New Britain, Fenwick and Watch Hill. One of his last designs was that for the
Eno Memorial Hall, the municipal building in Simsbury, Conn., for which Mrs.
Charles Boughton Wood donated the funds as a memorial to her father, Amos Eno,
who was the architect for the Fifth Avenue Hotel, the first building in New
York City equipped with an elevator, and Bassette's great-uncle. For ma
years prior to 1964 Bassette was a member of the Connecticut State Commission
of Fine Arts, and he was also for a long period before his death a trustee of
the Ella Burr McManus Fund as well as of the Henry Whitfield Historical
Museum, Guilford, Conn. In 1916 he was a member of Troop B, U.S. Cavalry, and
served on the Mexican border. He was a member of the Connecticut Society of
Architects, the Beta Theta Pi Club of Philadelphia, the Wadsworth Museum in
Hartford, Hartford Historical Society, and the Hartford Golf Club. His religious
affiliation was with the South Congregational Church in Hartford. Politically
he was a Republican. Woodcarving was his principal leisure-time interest, and
he hand-carved sixty-five mirror frames, which were excellent reproductions of
Early American and French masterpieces. He was married in West Hartford,
Conn., Jan. 19, 1914, to Elizabeth Fidelia, daughter of George Watson Hubbard
of Hartford, and insurance executive, and had three sons: John Hubbard, George
Henry, and Roy Donald. Bassette died in Hartford, Conn., May 18, 1965.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1883 - Deceased