Broad Street Historic District

About this property

The Broad Street Historic District encompasses a well-preserved 19th-century residential area in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. Centered on Broad and Pearl Streets West of Main Street, the area was developed residential in response to local economic development intended to revitalize the city, whose port was in decline. The district includes the city's largest concentration of Greek Revival houses, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Middletown developed in the 18th century as a major port on the Connecticut River, but was in decline by the 1830s. Community leaders revitalized the local economy by founding Wesleyan University in 1831, and investing in textile and machine industries. The Wesleyan campus was laid out west of High Street, and the area between it and Main Street, originally open land used mainly for gardening, was developed residentially. Although there had been some houses built during the Federal period, the amount of housing stock in this area tripled between 1830 and 1850. The area was substantially built out by 1900, with only relatively minor additions and alterations since then. The historic district is bounded on the north and south by Broad and Church Streets, and the west by High Street, and generally does not include buildings on those streets. Its Broad Street is its eastern boundary; it includes all of the houses on its west side, and only a few on the east side between Court and Washington Streets. College and Court Streets are the main cross streets in the district, and also including contributing properties. 51 Broad Street- c. 1850, Mid-19th century domestic, Henry Mansfield House 89–91 Broad Street- 1840, Greek Revival, Crandall-Cornwell House 93–97 Broad Street- c.1840, Greek Revival, William Hubbard Atkins House 101 Broad Street- c.1840, Greek Revival, Enoch C. Ferre House 109 Broad Street- c.1845, Greek Revival, Samuel Stearns House 123 Broad Street- 1833 as Greek Revival church; Gothic Revival alteration 1875; modern additions 1970, 1986, Russell Library 138 Broad Street- 1883–1884, Stick Style, Joseph Elliott House 139 Broad Street- c.1860, Italianate, William Cooley, Jr. House 144 Broad Street- 1902–1903, Colonial Revival, Church of the Holy Trinity and Rectory. The rectory is also known as the Bishop Acheson House, and is now a retirement home operated by St. Luke's. 148 Broad Street- 1861, Victorian Italianate, Charles C. Hubbard House 151 Broad Street- c.1845, Greek Revival, Joseph Tobey House 148 College Street- 1822, Federal Style, First Randolph Pease House 151 College Street- 1832–1837, Greek Revival, Second Randolph Pease House

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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