NPSForm10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page SUPPLEMENTARY LISTING RECORD NRIS Reference Number: 96000356 Date Listed: 04/12/96 Simsburv Center Historic District Hartford CT Property Name County State N/A_________________ Multiple Name This property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in accordance with the attached nomination documentation subject to the following exceptions, exclusions, or amendments, notwithstanding the National Park Service certification included in the nomination documentation. Signature of the Keeper Date of Action Amended Items in Nomination: 8. Statement of Significance; Period of Significance The documented period of significance for the property is 1752-1933, which reflects the district's architectural significance as it relates to the construction dates of its buildings. This information was confirmed with John Herzan, National Register Coordinator, CTSHPO, by telephone. DISTRIBUTION: National Register property file Nominating Authority (without attachment) 0MB Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NHRP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB 1024-0018 PROPERTY NAME Simsbury Center Historic District. Simsbury. CT Page 1 United States Department of the Interior National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY RECEIVED 2280 Historic Name: Simsbury Center Historic District Other Name/Site Number: NA M/W-4B96 r ir.-rr^Ti-,-« HISTORIC P! An NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 2. LOCATION Street & Number: 689, 690, 695, 700, 720 (partial), 725, 730, 731, 733, 736, 738, 741, 749, 750, 754, 755, 760, 765-767, 769-779, 776-782, 781, 783-789, 799, 800, 809, 835, 849, 863, 869-871, 880, 883-885, 894, Schultz Park, 920, 923-925, 927, 930, 932, 933, 940, 944, 946-948 Hopmeadow Street; Stables, Mall Way; 1, 5, 9 Phelps Street; Depot, Railroad Avenue; 6, 10-14 Station Street; 6, 7 Wilcox Street_____ Not for publication: NA City/Town: Simsbury Vicinity: NA State:_CT County: Hartford Code: 003 Zip Code: 06070 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Category of Property Private: x Building(s):__ Public-local: x District: x Public-State:__ Site:__ Public-Federal: Structure:__ Object:__ Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing 48 18 buildings __1 sites ____ structures ____ objects 48 19 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register:__9 Name of related multiple property listing: NA 0MB Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NHRP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB 1024-0018 PROPERTY NAME Simsburv Center Historic District. Simsburv. CT Page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this ___ nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property __X_ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Crite S^^sf^ / / February 29, 1996 ;ure of Cer^*rying Official Date :tor, Connecticut Historical Commission State or Federal Agency and Bureau In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of Commenting or Other Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION I, hereby certify that this property is: V Entered in the Nat^ot^al Register Determined eligible for the National Register Determined not eligible for the National Register Removed from the National Register Other (explain): ignature of Keeper Date of Action 0MB Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NHRP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB 1024-0018 PROPERTY NAME Simsbury Center Historic District. Simsbury. CT Page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Register of Historic Places Registration Fon 6. FUNCTION OR USE Historic: DOMESTIC Sub: dwelling, hotel COMMERCE business, financial institution GOVERNMENT city hall, fire station EDUCATION school, library__________ RELIGION religious structure______ FUNERARY cemetery, funeral home_____ RECREATION AND CULTURE auditorium, park_________ Current: DOMESTIC Sub: dwelling, COMMERCE business, financial institution GOVERNMENT city hall, fire station EDUCATION school, library____________ RELIGION religious structure__________ FUNERARY cemetery, funeral home_______ RECREATION AND CULTURE auditorium, park 7. DESCRIPTION Architectural Classification: Materials: COLONIAL/Postmed. English Foundation: STONE, BRICK EARLY REPUBLIC/Adamesque Walls: STONE, BRICK, WOOD LATE VICTORIAN/Renaissance 20TH CENTURY/Colonial revival Roof: Slate, ASPHALT, WOOD Other Description: ______ Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance. Simsbury Center Historic District extends for seven blocks along Hopmeadow Street, from West Street on the south to Massaco Street on the north. Hopmeadow Street has been the main thoroughfare since the community was settled in mid-17th century and continues in this role to the present time. The anchor buildings at the south are the First Church of Christ [Congregational] (Photograph 1) and the Joseph R. Ensign House, while at the north the anchor buildings are the Horace Belden School/Simsbury Town Office Building (Photograph 9) and St. Mary's Catholic Church complex (Photograph 11). The area in between displays an array of resources of various types, functions, and architectural styles, ranging in age from 1688 for Simsbury Center Cemetery (Photograph 4) to the 1987 St. Mary's Parish Center. Since the community was settled, the district has combined residential, mercantile, and institutional functions, and continues to do so at present. While Simsbury Center Cemetery, 755 Hopmeadow Street, is the oldest resource in the district, it has experienced a number of changes over time. The ancient stones (the oldest dates from 1688) are complemented by Neo-Classical Revival mausoleums from the turn of the 20th century, while its brownstone and wrought-iron fence runs the full width of the street frontage. The gates of the fence are embellished by bronze eagles and plaques designed and 0MB Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NHRP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB 1024-0018 PROPERTY NAME Simsbury Center Historic District. Simsburv. CT Page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Register of Historic Places Registration Form cast by the Gorham Company of Providence, Rhode Island, and New York City in 1922. The cemetery's expansion has extended to an area north of Library Lane and west of Hopmeadow Street which is not included in the district. No buildings from the 17th century have survived in the nominated area, but several 18th-century houses are standing. The oldest is the 1752 Benejah Roots House, 930 Hopmeadow Street, which is a standard Colonial five-bay gable-roofed clapboard house with central entrance central chimney. Its unusual feature is the long sloping rear roof, making it a saltbox, the only one in the district. Like almost all buildings in the district constructed as residences, Benejah Roots House now fulfills a commercial function. The Captain Elisha Phelps House, 800 Hopmeadow Street, 1771 (Photograph 7), is different both for its gambrel roof and elaborate front entry of paneled double-leaf door flanked by fluted pilasters with plant-motif capitals. The Phelps interior is largely original. The Phelps House is on the Massacoh Plantation (Massacoh was the Native American name for Simsbury), the Simsbury Historical Society's property on which it has assembled nine buildings illustrating the town's history. The nine include the frame Phelps Barn, a ca.1795 1 1/2 story frame gambrel-roofed building called the Henricks Cottage, the Watson- Wilcox Carriage House from ca.1880 featuring cupola and balcony, and the double-walled slate-roofed 1889 Ellsworth Icehouse. A house from the next decade, the Ezra Pratt House, ca.1784, incorporates a 19th- century alteration, rectangular windows in the attic gable ends, within a typical gable- roofed Colonial frame (Photograph 5). The ca.1790 Captain Jacob Pettibone House, 741 Hopmeadow Street, has been more severely altered in the early-20th-century Colonial Revival style. Early in the 19th century a brick house, unusual in the district for this time period, was built at 835 Hopmeadow Street for Ariel Ensign. It has the recessed central entrance with sidelights, four chimneys, and semi-elliptical attic windows of the Federal style. First Church of Christ, 689 Hopmeadow Street, built 1830, damaged by fire and rebuilt 1965, is transitional from the Federal to the Greek Revival styles. The shallow front pediment, fluted pilasters, and elliptical shield in the second stage of the tower are attenuated features typical of the Federal style, while the tower itself, with three square stages, reflects the severity of the oncoming Greek Revival. Next door, the 1839 Townhouse, 605 Hopmeadow Street, is an example of the fully developed Greek Revival style. Examples displaying mid-19th-century architectural styles are rare in the district. The three extant buildings from this time period have been greatly altered. The 1851 original section of the frame store at 6 Wilcox Street is barely discernible among the later additions. The Adelaide Wilcox House, 880 Hopmeadow Street, a large and impressive red