Whitney Avenue Historic District
Encyclopedia
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The Whitney Avenue Historic District is a historic district
in New Haven, Connecticut
. It is a 203 acres (82.2 ha) district which included 1,084 contributing buildings when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1989.
It is bordered by Edgerton Park and East Rock Park
on the north. It abuts the Prospect Hill Historic District
to the west and the Orange Street Historic District
on the east. Yale University facilities border on the southwest and south. The district is named after Whitney Avenue
, the principal thoroughfare in the district, which is lined with mansions or other larger houses, while the smaller streets included in the district have mostly smaller homes.
The district "is significant as a well-preserved middle and upper-class residential neighborhood which reflects the process of suburbanization in New Haven during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...and which has retained its integrity with few intrusions or alterations.... The houses in the district embody the distinctive characteristics of several periods and types of domestic architecture, including locally outstanding examples of Queen Anne
, Shingle, Colonial Revival
, Tudor Revival, and other styles...."
The district includes 749 "major" buildings: mostly houses but also schools, small commercial buildings, and a firehouse. Including smaller outbuildings such as garages and carriage houses, there were a total of 1,113 buildings in 1989. Besides the 1,084 contributing buildings, the district then included 29 non-contributing buildings. Since that time, some of the contributing buildings have been demolished, such as some garages behind houses, but the character of the district is generally preserved.
Significant Queen Anne style houses include the William Allen House, at 357 Whitney Avenue, a principal example among a row of Queen Anne houses.
Significant Shingle style houses include:
Significant Colonial Revival ones include:
There are significant Tudor Revival houses including, for example, the Dr. Edwin Butler House, at 640 Whitney Avenue, from 1913.
Other assorted styles are represented, including, notably, the Colin Ingersoll House at 475 Whitney Avenue, a spectacular Chateauesque style building designed by architect Joseph Northrup
There are apartment buildings mixed into the housing stock, particularly of U-shaped forms and particularly along Whitney Avenue. Examples appear in photos 16 and 29 (Brighton Court, in Spanish Colonial Revival, c.1915, at 663-667 Whitney Avenue) of accompanying photo collection.
. There are also several schools and a fire station. Institutional structures, specifically built as such, include:
, a building on Orange Street, which is separately listed on the National Register.
neighborhood but also extending into the Prospect Hill
neighborhood of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The row of properties on the west side of Whitney Avenue is officially in the Prospect Hill neighborhood planning area.
The Whitney Avenue Historic District is a historic district
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
. It is a 203 acres (82.2 ha) district which included 1,084 contributing buildings when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1989.
It is bordered by Edgerton Park and East Rock Park
East Rock Park
East Rock Park is a park in the city of New Haven and the town of Hamden, Connecticut that is operated as a New Haven city park. The park surrounds and includes the mountainous ridge named East Rock and was developed with naturalistic landscaping....
on the north. It abuts the Prospect Hill Historic District
Prospect Hill Historic District (New Haven, Connecticut)
The Prospect Hill Historic District is an irregularly-shaped historic district in New Haven, Connecticut. The district encompasses most of the residential portion of the Prospect Hill neighborhood....
to the west and the Orange Street Historic District
Orange Street Historic District
The Orange Street Historic District is a historic district in the East Rock section of New Haven, Connecticut that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1985. At that time, it included 546 buildings deemed to contribute to the historic character of the area.The district...
on the east. Yale University facilities border on the southwest and south. The district is named after Whitney Avenue
Whitney Avenue
Whitney Avenue is a principal arterial connecting Downtown New Haven with the town center of Hamden in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Most of the road within the city of New Haven is included in the Whitney Avenue Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
, the principal thoroughfare in the district, which is lined with mansions or other larger houses, while the smaller streets included in the district have mostly smaller homes.
The district "is significant as a well-preserved middle and upper-class residential neighborhood which reflects the process of suburbanization in New Haven during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...and which has retained its integrity with few intrusions or alterations.... The houses in the district embody the distinctive characteristics of several periods and types of domestic architecture, including locally outstanding examples of Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
, Shingle, Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
, Tudor Revival, and other styles...."
The district includes 749 "major" buildings: mostly houses but also schools, small commercial buildings, and a firehouse. Including smaller outbuildings such as garages and carriage houses, there were a total of 1,113 buildings in 1989. Besides the 1,084 contributing buildings, the district then included 29 non-contributing buildings. Since that time, some of the contributing buildings have been demolished, such as some garages behind houses, but the character of the district is generally preserved.
Residential structures
Large mansions are primarily along Whitney Avenue and Livingston Street.Significant Queen Anne style houses include the William Allen House, at 357 Whitney Avenue, a principal example among a row of Queen Anne houses.
Significant Shingle style houses include:
- 519 Whitney Avenue, at the corner of Canner Street (pictured above)
- the Charles Atwater House (pictured at right, also as Photo #21 in accompanying NRHP nomination photos, and as photo #1 in New Haven Preservation Trust photos) at 321 Whitney Avenue, at the corner of Edwards Street, designed by Babb, Cook and WillardBabb, Cook and WillardBabb, Cook and Willard is a New York City-based architectural firm that designed many important homes and commercial buildings. The Principals of the firm were George Fletcher Babb, Walter Cook , and Daniel W...
- the Abner Hendee House at 703 Whitney Avenue
Significant Colonial Revival ones include:
- C. Maeller House, 591 Whitney Avenue
- Coyle House, nearby
- 369 Whitney Avenue
- Dr. Henry Hessler House, 1930, designed by J. Frederick KellyJ. Frederick KellyJ. Frederick Kelly was an American architect who has designed significant houses. Kelly was regarded as the leading architectural historian in Connecticut....
, at 370 Livingston (accompanying photo #11) - Ray Reigeluth House, at 340 Livingston Street, from 1928–29, which represents an "apogee" of revival, being an exact copy of the Julius Deming House on North Street in the Litchfield Historic DistrictLitchfield Historic DistrictLitchfield Historic District, in Litchfield, Connecticut, is a National Historic Landmark historic district designated in 1968 as a notable example of a typical late 18th century New England village...
in Litchfield, ConnecticutLitchfield, ConnecticutLitchfield is a town in and former county seat of Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, and is known as an affluent summer resort. The population was 8,316 at the 2000 census. The boroughs of Bantam and Litchfield are located within the town...
, designed by architect Dwight Smith (accompanying photo #10) - Louis Ullman House, 1916, at 294 Livingston (accompanying photo #9)
There are significant Tudor Revival houses including, for example, the Dr. Edwin Butler House, at 640 Whitney Avenue, from 1913.
Other assorted styles are represented, including, notably, the Colin Ingersoll House at 475 Whitney Avenue, a spectacular Chateauesque style building designed by architect Joseph Northrup
Joseph Northrup
Joseph Northrup was an American architect.Among many works is his own Châteauesque house at 475 Whitney Avenue, in the Whitney Avenue Historic District of New Haven, Connecticut. That building, built in 1896, is a "knowledgeable variant of the Chateauesque mansions of Richard Morris Hunt".Other...
There are apartment buildings mixed into the housing stock, particularly of U-shaped forms and particularly along Whitney Avenue. Examples appear in photos 16 and 29 (Brighton Court, in Spanish Colonial Revival, c.1915, at 663-667 Whitney Avenue) of accompanying photo collection.
Institutional buildings
Institutional purposes are now served by many of the buildings built originally as mansions along Whitney Avenue. At the time of the National Register listing, there were ten churches in the district, four of which were deemed to contributing propertiesContributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
. There are also several schools and a fire station. Institutional structures, specifically built as such, include:
- First Baptist Church, 1902, designed by Leoni Robinson in Late Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
style, at 205 Edwards Street (see Photo 3 in accompanying photo collection) - St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, 1931, at 830 Whitney Avenue
- Evangelical Covenant Church
- St. John's Episcopal Church, 1895, at 400 Humphrey, a Gothic style church designed by William Halsey WoodWilliam Halsey WoodWilliam Halsey Wood was an American architect, born at the Village of Dansville, New York on April 24, 1855. He died at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 13, 1897.-Early life:...
- Swedish Emanuel Congregational Church, a Colonial Revival style from 1925, at 590 Orange Street
- Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church, in Romanesque style from 1892, at 655 Orange Street
- First Unitarian/Universalist Society, c. 1910, at 608 Whitney Avenue
- Worthington Hooker SchoolWorthington Hooker SchoolWorthington Hooker School is a neighborhood school in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. It is part of the New Haven public school system. The school is named after former Yale University professor and physician Dr. Worthington Hooker...
, Beaux Arts style, 1900, brick and terra cotta, (photo 1 in accompanying photos) - Whitney Station, of the New Haven Fire DepartmentNew Haven Fire DepartmentThe city of New Haven, Connecticut is protected full-time by the 350 professional firefighters and paramedics of the City of New Haven Fire Department...
, an International style building at 348 Whitney Avenue - Troop A Armory, at 869 Orange Street, in Late Gothic Revival style from 1906
Commercial buildings
Small commercial buildings or "houses which have been fitted with storefronts", primarily at corners or along Orange Avenue are included in, and serve, the district. An unusual example is the Hall-Benedict Drug Company BuildingHall-Benedict Drug Company Building
The Hall-Benedict Drug Company Building was built in 1909. It was listed on the National Register in 1986.It is located at 763-767 Orange Street in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut....
, a building on Orange Street, which is separately listed on the National Register.
Summary
"In summary, the district is distinguished by its exceptional number of architecturally significant houses; the wide, shady, tree-lined streets which provide an appropriate setting for those houses; and by the high proportion of buildings which have retained their integrity of materials and design. Together these attributes create the sense of historic and architectural cohesiveness which makes this area a distinctive cultural resource."
Relationship to neighborhoods
The historic district primarily in the East RockEast Rock (neighborhood)
East Rock is a neighborhood in the city of New Haven, Connecticut, named for nearby East Rock, a prominent trap rock ridge. The area is home to a large group of Yale students, staff, and faculty, as well as many young professionals and families. The neighborhood is divided between New Haven's...
neighborhood but also extending into the Prospect Hill
Prospect Hill (New Haven)
Prospect Hill is a neighborhood of the city of New Haven, Connecticut located in the north central portion of the city, directly north of Downtown New Haven. The neighborhood contains residences, institutional buildings of Albertus Magnus University and a portion of the main campus of Yale...
neighborhood of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. The row of properties on the west side of Whitney Avenue is officially in the Prospect Hill neighborhood planning area.
External links
- Whitney Avenue Historic District, New Haven Preservation Trust website (includes 11 photos)
- Atwater-Ciampolini House, 321 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, New Haven County, CT: 8 photos, exterior and interior, from 1964–1970; 7 data pages and supplemental material, at Historic American Building Survey
- 1st Unitarian Universalist Society of New Haven 608 Whitney Avenue, New Haven