The Church Street Historic District is a predominantly residential
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
Belfast, Maine. The district extends along Church Street roughly between Franklin and High Streets, and encompasses a neighborhood of homes dating from the early 19th to the early 20th century, the major period of the city's growth. The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1978,
and is contained within the larger
Belfast Historic District
The Belfast Historic District encompasses a large portion of the city center of Belfast, Maine, representing one of Maine's largest concentrations of pre-Civil War architecture, as well as a rich collection of commercial architecture of the late ...
.
Description and history
The city of Belfast, located on
Penobscot Bay
Penobscot Bay (french: Baie de Penobscot) is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast, Maine, Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many ...
on the central Maine coast, became a major shipping and shipbuilding port after the
War of 1812, and diversified economically as the 19th century progressed. Church Street, which extends south from the city's central business district and runs parallel to, but several blocks inland from, the city's waterfront, was the city's fashionable residential area. As a result, the street is lined with a succession of high-quality houses, reflecting primarily the styles of the first three quarters of the 19th century: the Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate. These houses were built by sea captains, shipbuilders, businessmen, and industrialists, all of whom contributed to the city's economic growth.
The historic district's boundaries include all of the houses on the west side of Church Street between High and Miller Streets, and those on the east side between Spring and High Streets. It also includes houses on the west side of High Street north of Church, as well as two blocks of Court Street (which parallels Church to the west) between Franklin and Miller Streets. The district is anchored at its northern end by the 1818
First Church of Belfast
The First Church of Belfast is a historic church at 8 Court Street in Belfast, Maine. The church congregation was founded in 1796, and its present building was built in 1818. The well-preserved Federal style church was listed on the Nationa ...
, one of two churches in the district, and at the southern end by the
James P. White House, a fine Greek Revival house built in 1840. The White House was designed by Calvin Ryder, a local architect whose work appears throughout the district. The Williamson House at 18 Church Street, also designed by Ryder, is a particularly handsome Greek Revival house with a full temple front treatment.
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See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Waldo County, Maine
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Federal architecture in Maine
Greek Revival architecture in Maine
Buildings and structures in Belfast, Maine
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Waldo County, Maine