The Fourth Ward Historic District encompasses an early urban residential subdivision of

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

. Extending north from

United States Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

along Sherwood Place, Church Street, and adjacent streets, it is one of two subdivisions created before the arrival of the railroad in Greenwich in 1848. It is characterized by dense residential construction, with architectural styles from the Greek Revival to early 20th-century styles. 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 ...

in 2000.

Description and history

The Fourth Ward area is located near an early commercial district in Greenwich, that arose along the Boston Post Road (now US 1) during its period as an important stagecoach and travel route. It was developed in 1836 by William Sherwood as an area of moderate-income housing, a contrast to the higher-style upper-class housing that then lined the Post Road. Lots were laid out with narrow frontage, and the early houses that were built there were stylistically more modest. Sherwood laid out Sherwood Place (then called Mechanics Street), and the northern and western parts of the ward, including Church Street and parts of Northfield, Division, and William Streets, was developed in the 1870s. This later development was characterized by slightly larger lots and houses, and includes the district's finer examples of period architecture. and The historic district in size In 2000 it included 159 contributing buildings. The two oldest houses in the district are

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 a ...

John Knapp House from 1837 and the John Kirk House from 1838. Most of the buildings are single and multifamily residences; construction in the early 20th century was predominantly multifamily buildings, either two or four units in size. Almost all of the buildings are of wood-frame construction, 1-1/2 to stories in size, and are in a diversity of architectural styles. Non-residential buildings include First Baptist Church on Northfield Street; the district also includes the former site of Greenwich's first Roman Catholic church, which is now a playground.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut Historic districts in Fairfield County, Connecticut Greenwich, Connecticut Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References