The History

Sullivan’s Tobacco Warehouse, ca. 1910 – 880 Burbank Avenue, Suffield CT

The structure at 880 Burbank Avenue is a former tobacco warehouse built ca. 1910 that now serves as an office complex and artist studio space. This structure was originally built as a tobacco warehouse and it housed the sorting and grading operations for John L. Sullivan’s Tobacco Farm. John L. Sullivan was the son of Irish immigrant parents who fled Ireland during the Great Famine and settled in Thompsonville in order to work in the carpet mills. As a young man growing up in Thompsonville, Sullivan worked on the construction of the Enfield Canal. After establishing 10 himself as a largely self-taught carpenter, he was able to purchase a large tract of land in nearby Suffield where he eventually grew tobacco. By 1910 Sullivan had become East Suffield’s most prominent tobacco grower. In addition to cultivating and selling his own crop, Sullivan also worked as a broker for several large tobacco firms. He enjoyed a place of high standing in town and served as First Selectman, Road Foreman, Director of the Suffield Savings Bank, and as Constable. He was also instrumental in the formation of Suffield’s first police department. Sullivan erected this warehouse around 1910, and his business continued under his son’s tenure until about 1960. The building is significant for its association with the tobacco history of Suffield as well as for its adaptive reuse. Although altered, the scale and massing of this building imparts its early origins. The three-story building is oriented with the ridge of its side-gabled roof oriented parallel to Burbank Avenue. The simple structure has wide overhangs at the eaves and rakes and a large gabled dormer is located centrally along the façade. Modern windows have been placed in a roughly regular pattern along the façade (south elevation) with bay and picture windows flanking a central entry on the first floor, and single windows found on the second and third stories. The entrance is sheltered by a gabled portico supported by Tuscan columns and there is a double-door topped by a broken ogee pediment. The building is clad in aluminum siding and rests on a raised brick foundation.

Special thanks to the Sullivan family, and Suffield Resident & Artist Laurie Tavino for sharing these incredible historic photos of the property.