The Ethan Allen Engine Company No. 4 is a historic former fire and police station at 135 Church Street in
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
, United States. Built in 1887 for a private fire company, it is a fine local example of 19th-century commercial architecture. It served the city as a fire and police station until the 1960s, and is now used as a commercial space. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and is a
contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
to the
City Hall Park Historic District.
Description and history
The former Ethan Allen Engine Company No. 4 building is located just north of Burlington City Hall, on the west side of
Church Street between Main and College Streets. Its front facade faces Church Street, but it also presents a designed facade to City Hall Park, which is located directly behind it. It is three stories in height, built out of red brick, in a commercial variation of the
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...
style. The facade facing Church Street has two former equipment bays on the ground floor, now converted to commercial storefronts, which art articulated by pilaster-like brick pillars set on granite block piers with red rusticated stone base and capital. A stone band above these bays identifies the engine company. The upper two floors have windows set in groups in tall round-arch openings, which are in a Palladian style with a large central opening and narrower flanking ones. The building is topped by an tower that was originally used to dry hoses.
[ with ]
The firehouse was built in 1887 for a private fire company that operated horse-drawn fire engines. It was later folded into the city's fire department, and the building adapted to house motorized fire equipment. Later in the 20th century it was occupied by the Burlington Police Department, which vacated the premises in the late 1960s.
[ It has since been adapted for commercial uses.
]
See also
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References
{{NRHP in Chittenden County, Vermont
Fire stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Burlington, Vermont
Fire stations completed in 1887
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Vermont
1887 establishments in Vermont
Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Vermont