Davis Realty

Movie Theatre Building
757 Boston Post Road, or what we now enjoy as the Madison Cinemas building, began as the Menunkatuck Theatre in 1912. According to Madison historian Warner Lord, Charles Bonoff purchased vacant land and built a theatre with removable seats and a level playing floor, for local basketball games. He writes, “when Madison and Guilford played it was necessary to have a state policeman present because there were often fights”. (Photo courtesy of the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives, Inc., Madison, CT)

757 Boston Post Road in the 1930’s. The next generation of the Bonoffs, Leo and Buster, gave their theatre a new name and a sloped floor for better viewing. (Photo courtesy of Larry Bonoff).

757 Boston Post Road in the 1940’s. Warner Lord writes “Leo Bonoff recalled that on Saturday nights they tried to have a big picture, because many husbands came home from the city for the weekend and Saturday was the night they went out. Couples would attend the first show - the beginning of the evening. The men wore tuxes, and the women came in evening dress as they were going to the Club or out to dinner afterward”.

Today at 757 Boston Post Road,the newly remodeled Madison Cinemas has state-of-the-art sound systems, digital projection, luxury seating, and it’s now the oldest operating theatre in Connecticut screening first run movies. Sharing the building are Iron Chef Sushi, Prive Swiss, Life Bowls, and Water Street Jewelers.

30 Wall Street
Since the 1800’s, 30 Wall Street has been a bustling location. Back then it was the site of one of Madison’s largest summer hotels, the Vermont House. Originally shipwrights, caulkers, and blacksmiths bunked there and commuted to their jobs at the shipyards at West Wharf and East Wharf. Later on summer visitors would cool off at the hotel after a day at the beach. A fire destroyed that building around 1900. The current building was home to Madison Hardware, shown above in 1988, for many decades. (Photo courtesy of the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives, Inc., Madison, CT)

Today it’s a popular retail destination for artwork, fine wine, and creative lighting.

Davis Realty’s 30 Wall Street continues as a magnetic location. After substantial renovations and improvements, it is the new home of The Wine Thief, The Frame Shop, and Tidewater Lighting & Design.

845 Boston Post Rd
Once part of Fence Creek Farm, 845 Boston Post Road was the home of town doctor Daniel M. Webb, who purchased it in 1852 for $1,950. Historian Helen Foster Snow cites this description from Madison’s Heritage: “genial Doctor Webb, whose merry quips brightened many a sick room and who brought into the world a large part of the younger generation”. Shown above in the 1980‘s when it was the Madison Gallery. Davis Realty has modernized Dr. Webb’s old home at 845 and today it is still bringing smiles to the younger generation as the location of Madison’s School of Rock.

69 Wall Street
69 Wall Street has long been the center of activity on Madison’s tree lined avenue next to Main Street. It was built about 1840 by Thomas Justin Coe, and members of the Coe family - inn keepers, ship captains, carpenters, postmasters and fishermen among them – lived there for well over a century. The last was George Coe, First Selectman of Madison from 1978-79. In the 1960’s the house was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter C. Polson, for whom Madison’s Middle School was named. (Photo courtesy of the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives, Inc., Madison, CT.

In 2007 Davis Realty undertook a complete restoration of 69 Wall Street, preserving its beautiful granite foundation stones and modernizing the interior and mechanical systems. Today it is where you will find one of Madison’s favorite boutiques, Robertson Madison.

837 Boston Post Rd
Captain John Scranton lived in our building at 837 Boston Post Road in the mid-1800’s. From his big front porch, he could gaze upon his quarry across the street, Serpent’s Rock. Scranton built wharves, breakwaters, and supplied the first curbs to the city of Philadelphia. His son was Joseph Hand Scranton, one of the founders of Scranton, PA. (Photo courtesy of the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives, Inc., Madison, CT)

837 Boston Post Road in the 1900’s. The generous porch was replaced with a dining room, and a succession of restaurants occupied the building: first, the Stags Head Inn, and later Galahad’s. (Photo courtesy of the Charlotte L. Evarts Memorial Archives, Inc., Madison, CT)

Today, Davis Realty maintains offices at 837 Boston Post Road, where we provide on-site management for our properties. We are also pleased to be the home of Edward Jones, Chef Paul Barron and Dr. Cathleen Adams.

Clippership Row
Back in the 1800’s the land behind Captain John Scranton’s house, the Allis Bushnell House and others, extending to Scotland Avenue, was actively farmed to sustain the families that lived there. But by the 1970’s those big yards were mostly woods and garages. Jack and Helen Davis saw the need for a different kind of sustenance in Madison: one-bedroom homes that are comfortable and convenient and which hadn’t existed here before.

The first buildings were built in 1978, with another two added a few years later. Our apartments at Clippership Row are still sustaining Madison residents to this day.