Downtown Hartford, Connecticut is the primary business district and the center of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

's state government. Due to the large number of insurance companies headquartered downtown, Hartford is known as the "Insurance Capital of the World".

Business

Downtown Hartford is home to such corporations as

The Hartford The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is a United States-based investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was rank ...

, Travelers Insurance,

Hartford Steam Boiler The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB) founded in 1866 and headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S., is a global specialty insurer and reinsurer. The company is the largest provider of equipment breakdown insuran ...

The Phoenix Companies The Phoenix Companies, Inc., is a financial services company that traces its origins to 1851. Phoenix was acquired bNassau Financial Groupin 2016 and remains headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, with 650 employees as of 2015. Phoenix remains ...

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans ...

and

United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, aerospace system ...

, most of which are housed in office towers constructed over the last 20–30 years. Downtown also serves as the hub for bus routes of Connecticut Transit Hartford.

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

is located in the western part of downtown. Downtown is also home to the

Hartford City Hall The Hartford Municipal Building, also known as Hartford City Hall, is a historic Beaux-Arts structure located at 550 Main Street in Hartford, Connecticut. Completed in 1915, it is a prominent local example of Beaux-Arts architecture, and is the ...

, the Hartford Public Library, which is undergoing a major expansion and renovation, the Old State House, which is one of the oldest state houses in the nation, the

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School la ...

which is the oldest public art museum in the country,

Travelers Tower Travelers Tower is a 24-story, skyscraper in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Travelers Tower was the seventh tallest building in the world when it was constructed in 1919, and is currently the second tallest building in Hartford. Travelers Towe ...

, historic Hotel Bond,

Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized ...

, and the

Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the Hou ...

and Legislative Office Complex. The south downtown area south of Bushnell Park is the site of several imposing buildings built in the early decades of the 20th century as the headquarters for large

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

companies. The Scottish Union and National Insurance Company building, in the

Georgian Revival style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, ...

, was built in 1913. The Renaissance Revival-style

Connecticut General Life Insurance Company Cigna is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Its insurance subsidiaries are major providers of medical, dental, disability, life and accident insurance and related products and se ...

building, built in 1926, was inspired by the Medici-Riccardi Palace in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Education

Along Main Street,

Capital Community College Capital Community College is a public community college in Hartford, Connecticut. The only public undergraduate institution in the City of Hartford, Capital's roots date to 1967 with the founding of Greater Hartford Community College. In 1992 Ca ...

and the Hartford Public Schools offices are located in the 11-story building that until 1993 housed the

G. Fox and Company G. Fox & Co. was a large department store that originated in Hartford, Connecticut. It was the largest privately held department store in the nation when it was sold in 1965 to the May Department Stores Company. In 1993, May Department stores p ...

department store. The newly renovated

University of Connecticut School of Business The University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Business is a graduate and undergraduate public business school that spans across four campuses, with the main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The UConn School of Business was founded in 194 ...

is located at

Constitution Plaza Constitution Plaza is a large commercial mixed-use development in Downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Construction Constitution Plaza was built for $42 million and completed in stages from 1961 to 1964. Its planning and construction were spearheade ...

. At the eastern edge of downtown at Adriaens Landing the

Connecticut Convention Center The Connecticut Convention Center is a convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, United States, overlooking the Connecticut River. History The center opened on June 2 2005. It was designed by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & ...

opened in June 2005 near the new Marriott Hartford Hotel.

Housing

A major feature of the downtown and the city skyline is Hartford 21, a 36-story apartment tower completed in 2006. Starting in 2014 the 26-story office building at 777 Main Street (formerly the Bank of America Building) was converted into 285 luxury apartments.

Historic places

The downtown area includes eight

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 ce ...

s 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 artist ...

: the Ann Street Historic District, the

Buckingham Square Historic District The Buckingham Square Historic District is a historic district in Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 196 ...

, the

Department Store Historic District The Department Store Historic District is a historic district (United States), historic district in the Downtown Hartford neighborhood of the city of Hartford, Connecticut, United States. It is a area that, in 1995, included three contributing ...

, the Downtown North Historic District, the Elm Street Historic District, the High Street Historic District, the

Main Street Historic District No. 2 The Main Street Historic District No. 2 is a historic district in Hartford, Connecticut. It encompasses a city block in the city's downtown noted for its concentration of insurance-related highrise commercial buildings constructed in the early ...

, and the

Pratt Street Historic District The Pratt Street Historic District of Hartford, Connecticut, encompasses all of Pratt Street, between Main and Trumbull Streets, in the city's downtown. This block, which includes 15 buildings (one of which faces Trumbull Street), is the only p ...

Pictures

File:Travelers Tower, Hartford, CT - view 1.JPG,

File:Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, Hartford CT - edge.JPG,

Phoenix Life Insurance Company Building The Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, locally called the "Boat Building", is a notable Modernist office building located on Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut. Designed by Max Abramovitz and completed in 1963, it is listed on the ...

File:GoodwinSquare.jpg,

Goodwin Square Goodwin Square is a 30-story, skyscraper located at 225 Asylum Street in Downtown Hartford, Connecticut. The Goodwin Square complex includes the office tower that bears its name, as well as the adjoining Goodwin Hotel. The tower itself is the ...

File:Pratt Street Hartford 2015.jpg,

File:777 Main Street - Hartford, CT - DSC04955.jpg, 777 Main Street (Hartford, Connecticut) File:Downtown Hartford (190587073).jpeg, The Gold Building File:PostcardHartfordCTMainStSouth1908.jpg, Main Street, 1908 File:MainStHartford.jpg, Main Street, 2007

References

External links

Downtown Neighborhood Data
Hartford Public Library website

(map, photos, and descriptions) {{authority control Historic districts in Connecticut Geography of Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...