The Black Rock Gardens Historic District 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 ...
in the
Black Rock neighborhood of
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...
. It encompasses a small residential development built between 1916 and 1920 to provide housing for workers in war-related industries in the city. It is a well-preserved example of one of several such developments made in the city with funding by the
United States Housing Corporation
The United States Housing Corporation (USHC) was a federal agency that existed during World War I. Its purpose was to provide housing for wartime production workers near arsenals and shipyards.
Context
With a massive wartime shipbuilding p ...
, a government agency. The district 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 1990.
[
]
Description and history
Black Rock Gardens is located in southwestern Bridgeport's Black Rock neighborhood, on bounded by Fairfield Avenue, Rowsley Street, Haddon Street, Nash Lane, and Brewster Street. It consists of 12 three-story red brick Colonial Revival buildings, set around small quadrangle-like parks. Some of the buildings are connected to one another. The buildings are relatively uniformly styled, with cast stone trim elements, brick parapets, and flat roofs, with some window openings occupied by projecting window bays to provide visual interest. Entrance surrounds have neoclassical features including full entablatures.United States Housing Corporation
The United States Housing Corporation (USHC) was a federal agency that existed during World War I. Its purpose was to provide housing for wartime production workers near arsenals and shipyards.
Context
With a massive wartime shipbuilding p ...
to provide war-time emergency housing for workers in war-related factories, during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The siting and building design was a collaboration that included R. Clipston Sturgis
Richard Clipston Sturgis (1860-1951), generally known as R. Clipston Sturgis, was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Life and career
Richard Clipston Sturgis was born December 24, 1860, in Boston, Massachusetts to Russell and S ...
, Arthur Shurtleff Arthur Asahel Shurcliff (1870–1957) was a noted American landscape architect. Born Arthur Asahel Shurtleff, he changed his last name in 1930 in order, he said, to conform to the "ancient spelling of the family name". After over 30 years of success ...
, and Skinner & Walker
C. Wellington Walker (1889–1967) was an American architect in practice in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1910 until 1967.
Life and career
Charles Wellington Walker Jr. was born in 1889 in Strang, Nebraska to Charles Wellington Walker, a typew ...
, and embodied elements of the then-fashionable Garden City movement
The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...
of residential design.
See also
*History of Bridgeport, Connecticut
The history of Bridgeport, Connecticut was, in the late 17th and most of the 18th century, one of land acquisitions from the native inhabitants, farming and fishing. From the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century, Bridgeport's history was one ...
*Black Rock Historic District
The Black Rock Historic District is a predominantly residential historic district in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. At that time it included 109 contributi ...
*
External links
Black Rock Historic Districts
Black Rock Gardens Historic District
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Geography of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Colonial Revival architecture in Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut