Old Towne, Orange Historic District, also known as Downtown Orange, and colloquially The Circle is a one square-mile district around Plaza Park in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before 1920. While many oth ...

, and contains many of the original structures built in the period after the city's incorporation. It is a vibrant commercial district, containing Orange County's oldest operating bank. The Historic 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 1997, and is the largest National Register District in California. The Old Towne Preservation Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining the district. According to State Historic Resource Surveys, Orange is unique among the region and the state in that it has the second largest concentration of historic buildings. A list of all of the buildings and sites in Orange that appear in the

can be found at

National Register of Historic Places listings in Orange County, California __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Orange County, California. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, ...

Orange International Street Fair

The district is home to the Orange International Street Fair, which has been held annually every Labor Day weekend since 1973. The inaugural event was held to celebrate the city's centennial and pay homage to the original 1910 Orange Street Fair. The Fair's success led to the city holding the event annually ever since. The event covers the Plaza, West and East Chapman Avenue, and North and South Glassell Street, and features international food and drink, live music and entertainment, and showcases for local businesses and non-profit organizations. The event typically draws several hundred thousand attendees over the course of the weekend.

Architectural styles in Old Towne Orange

Bungalow
(''see also California Bungalow—

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

'')
Craftsman BungalowCraftsman
(''see also

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

'')
Hip Roof Cottage
(''see also

Hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus ...

'')
Mediterranean
(''see also Mediterranean Revival Style architecture'')
Prairie
(''see also Prairie Style architecture'')
Spanish Colonial
(''see also Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture'')
Victorian
(''see also

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian w ...

'')

References

Neighborhoods in Orange, California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, California {{OrangeCountyCA-NRHP-stub