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165 park street new haven11/24/2023 ![]() Nearly all the city’s banks built new and larger headquarters in the first two decades of the 20th century, and the district includes three of the most stylish. These were large, monumental structures, which were regarded as signs of New Haven’s vitality and progressiveness. Among the new public buildings associated with this effort were the 1908 New Haven Free Public Library at 133 Elm Street, and the 1914 New Haven County Courthouse at 121 Elm Street. At the same time, civic pride and the impulse toward progressive reform prompted a comprehensive planning effort that brought together public and private interests in a program to beautify the city. The city’s pattern of one and two-family residences was supplemented by row housing in core areas to shelter a growing population.īy the early 20th century, the city had grown to the point that its public and institutional facilities were inadequate. Several elaborate houses were built here as the homes of leading New Haven citizens, including those of spring manufacturer Jonathan Mix, merchant E.H. Because of the park-like character of the Green and the proximity of important government buildings, the adjacent streets became prestigious residential addresses. A new State Capital building in the form of a Greek temple (demolished in the late 19th century) was erected on the upper Green, and in 1861 the Henry Austin-designed Gothic Revival City Hall was erected on Church Street facing the Green. Three of the city’s leading churches built new stylish meetinghouses on the Green a fourth, the Methodist church, was compelled to accept a site facing the Green on Elm Street, where in 1849 they built the present church. ![]() It was fenced off, graded and planted as a park. In the early 19th century, the center square began to take on a more formal aspect. Although there were some houses along the bordering streets, the center square itself was undeveloped. In the 18th century, the city’s activities centered more on the mercantile waterfront, which was located some distance from the center square. When New Haven was first settled in 1637, the town was divided into nine squares, the center of which was reserved for public use and eventually became the New Haven Green. It was listed on the State Register of Historic Places on September 4, 1986. ![]() The Elm Street Historic District is roughly bounded by Elm, College, Wall and Church Streets. The buildings represent the work of architects who achieved both local and national prominence, including Ithiel Town, Henry Austin, Cass Gilbert, Grosvenor Atterbury and Douglas Orr. The architectural significance of its buildings embody the distinguishing characteristics of 18th-century Federal and Greek Revival domestic architecture late 19th-century institutional architecture and the Neo-Classical, Colonial Revival, Neo-Gothic and modernistic styles of the early 20th century. ![]() The buildings in the district show the evolution of the area from one that was largely residential, to one which served as part of the religious, political and financial center of New Haven. The Elm Street Historic District illustrates the development of the area adjacent to the New Haven Green. ![]()
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