Washington Avenue Historic District is a national

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 ...

located at

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. It 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 1980. The district, bounded roughly by Madison and Grand Avenues and East Gum and Parrett Streets, sprang up in the late 19th century, during an economic boom when the city's population went from 29,200 in 1880 to more than 59,000 by 1900. When the neighborhood was nominated to the

in 1980, local preservationists cited the district's “important collection of late-Victorian frame houses” – grand styles, from Gothic Revival to French Second Empire, designed by the city's leading architects for some of its leading citizens. Among those who built stately homes on Washington Avenue were Max deJong, an importer and fine clothing retailer; Antonio Sierra, superintendent of the

Fendrich Cigar Company Fendrich Cigar Company (also known as ''La Fendrich'' and, more correctly ''H. Fendrich'') was a cigar factory in Evansville, Indiana, founded and owned by notable Fendrich family. The factory was shut in 1969. Cigar brands The Fendrich Compan ...

; and William Akin Jr., a well-to-do meatpacker who later became mayor of Evansville. ''Note:'' This includes
Site mapQuad map
and Accompanying photographs The Washington Avenue district – where 23 percent of the houses have been demolished in the last quarter-century – never attracted the investment that other districts in the city have. Local and state preservation experts fear the demolition of structures in the Washington Avenue district along with the accelerating decline of what remains could jeopardize the area's status on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Queen Anne architecture in Indiana Italianate architecture in Indiana Geography of Evansville, Indiana Historic districts in Evansville, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Evansville, Indiana {{VanderburghCountyIN-NRHP-stub