The Brookfield Center Historic District in
Brookfield, Connecticut
Brookfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, situated within the southern foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. The population was 17,528 at the 2020 census. The town is located northeast of New York City, making it part ...
is a
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
that was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1991.
[ It is located in the vicinity of the junction of Route 133 and Route 25. The district represents the original settlement of the town of Brookfield and contains 67 residential, religious, and municipal buildings over a area representing a wide range of architectural styles from the 18th to 20th centuries including ]Bungalow/Craftsman
In the United States, the National Register of Historic Places classifies its listings by various types of architecture. Listed properties often are given one or more of 40 standard architectural style classifications that appear in the National ...
, Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
, and Queen Anne style architecture. The district includes the old town hall, the Congregational Church of Brookfield, Saint Joseph Church & Elementary School, Center Elementary School (Public), the former general store (now a real estate agency), St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and the surrounding residential neighborhood.History of Brookfield
(Town of Brookfield) The district is architecturally significant as an accurate representation of the historical development of the original settlement of the Town of Brookfield as the buildings are well-preserved from the time they were built with minimal alterations and intrusions, including their spatial relationships to one another.
[
The area that is now Brookfield was settled about 1700, and was given its own parish in 1754, formed out of portions of ]Danbury
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
, New Milford, and Newtown. It was incorporated in 1788. The road junction was where the first church, town hall, school, and tavern were built. In addition to housing the central religious and political functions, the center area was also home to a number of private schools in the 19th century.
Contributing properties in the district include:[ and ]
*150 Whisconier Road, c. 1700, a saltbox
A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...
*140 Whisconier Road, a vernacular building with selected Federal style
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
details, has semi-elliptical attic windows
*Congregational Church, an 1854 Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
church designed by Beckwith Nash
*St. Paul's School (3 Longmeadow Hill Road), a building in the Italianate style
*1907 gymnasium building of the Curtis School for Boys, now in use as the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts
The Brookfield Theatre for the Arts is a theater located in the historic Curtis School for Boys gymnasium building in Brookfield, Connecticut, located within the Brookfield Center Historic District. The theater has a capacity of 135 people and ho ...
, a building in the Rustic Style
Rustic architecture is a style of architecture in the United States, used in rural government and private structures and their landscape interior design. It was influenced by the American craftsman style.
According to the National Park Service, †...
.
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Brookfield, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut