Greenwich Avenue Historic District
The Greenwich Avenue Historic District is a historic district representing the commercial and civic historical development of the downtown area of the town of Greenwich, Connecticut. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 31, 1989. Included in the district is the Greenwich Municipal Center Historic District, which was listed on the National Register the year before for the classical revival style municipal buildings in the core of Downtown. Most of the commercial buildings in the district fall into three broad styles, reflecting the period in which they were built: Italianate  (late 19th century), Georgian Revival (early 20th century), and Commercial style (after World War I). The district is linear and runs north–south along the entire length of Greenwich Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Downtown Greenwich, between U.S. Route 1 and the New Haven Line railroad tracks. History. The town of Greenwich was first settled in 1640, but settlement was scattered among several villages. It was not until 1665 that Greenwich was formally incorporated as a town of Connecticut. In 1672, a group of settlers bought a tract of land known as Miossehasseky. The area occupied by Havemeyer Fields was  used by these settlers as a pasture for horses and the entire village soon acquired the name Horseneck. In 1703, the town voted to have town meetings split between Sound Beach (the oldest settlement) and Horseneck, which was centrally located in the town. In 1760, a “Town House” for conducting town meetings was constructed at what is now the intersection of Putnam and Maple Avenue. The population of Horseneck boomed in the mid-19th century, transforming from a farming village to a wealth suburban community of New York City, mainly as a result of the establishment by the New Haven Railroad  of a station at the lower part of Greenwich Avenue. This rapid growth prompted the incorporation of Horseneck as the Borough of Greenwich in 1854. The establishment of borough government ultimately allowed for the rapid construction of new public buildings after the Civil War on previously vacant farmland. Around the area of public buildings, intensive development of commercial as well as residential areas was also taking place. The rapid development of public buildings in the borough was aided by the development of railroad and steamboat service, allowing people to work in New York City while living in Greenwich. Several wealth  New York capitalists spurred the rapid development with their own funds. Henry O. Havemeyer was the first of these benefactors. He donated the money to construct the Havemeyer Building, which was originally a school, in 1892. Another philanthropist, Robert M. Bruce, and his sister Sarah E. Bruce, donated to the town the Old Town Hall (now the Senior Center) after it was constructed in 1905. The core of Downtown Greenwich was completed when the Havemeyer family donated the parcel of land south of the intersection of Arch Street and Greenwich Avenue for construction of a public park and a post  office. The post office building was constructed in 1916. In the 19th century, most commercial development took place along the northern end of Greenwich Avenue, where the Boston Post Road was located. This area of Greenwich Avenue provided goods and services to the growing residential community around the intersection of Greenwich Avenue and Putnam Avenue, including what is now the Fourth Ward. Sidewalks, kerosene street lighting, and sewer and water lines were in place by 1882. In the early 20th-century, Greenwich Avenue was paved and a streetcar line was established. Many houses that were already on Greenwich Avenue were  moved to residential areas on the parallel side streets to make way for commercial blocks. Commercial development continued to boom in the 1920s, helped in part by the electrification and four-tracking of the New Haven Railroad line. The borough had dominated the civic life of the entire town of Greenwich by this time and the borough and town governments were eventually consolidated in 1932 resulting in the modern town government of Greenwich. The last open lot on Greenwich Avenue was built on in 1947 with the construction of an office building now occupied by Fawcett Publications. While upscale retail  businesses replaced the earlier stores and office space in existing buildings upgraded, the streetscape of the area is largely intact and continues to function as the commercial and civic center of the town. Geography. The district is primarily linear including properties on both sides of Greenwich Avenue from Putnam Avenue (U.S. Route 1) in the north to the New Haven Line tracks in the south. The district has an east–west bulge near its center where the Greenwich Municipal Center district is located. The bulge extends east along both sides of Havemeyer Place up to Millbank Street, and west across  Havemeyer Field to Field Point Road, where the current Town Hall is located. The district is also drawn to include commercial blocks off Greenwich Avenue along the north side of Putnam Avenue, the north side of Lewis Street, the south side of Bruce Park, and the north side of Railroad Avenue. There are two specific exclusions along Greenwich Avenue that contain modern buildings. The first is half a block on the east side just south of Putnam Avenue. The second is the east side of the intersection with Fawcett Place. The north, east, and west sides of the district are  flanked by residential neighborhoods. Part of the north residential area is included in the Fourth Ward Historic District. In the south are the railroad tracks of the New Haven Line, the Connecticut Turnpike, and Greenwich Harbor. The historic district covers a total area of 86 acres. Of this area, 21.6 acres are part of the Municipal Center district, with 16.8 acres of that occupied by Havemeyer Field. There are 152 buildings in the district, of which 124 are listed as contributing to the historic and architectural significance of the area. The district is bounded to include historic commercial and civic  buildings that are associated to the rapid development of the borough of Greenwich in the period 1860 to 1940, and to exclude primarily residential areas as well as modern commercial construction. Significant contributing buildings. The Greenwich Avenue Historic District is representative of the architectural diversity that was found in the 19th and early 20th century commercial streetscapes of small cities in Connecticut. Greenwich Avenue is distinguished in that so much of the historic streetscape remains intact today. Some of the more significant buildings and blocks are described below.