Downtown Brattleboro Historic District

DESCRIPTION:

The Brattleboro Downtown Historic District encompasses sixty-two buildings in the town's center, extending the entire five-block length of Main Street parallel to the Connecticut River on the east. Multi-story brick commercial buildings dominate the southern three-block stretch of Main Street while imposing civic and religious buildings predominate along the northern stretch, giving the historic district an urban appearance. Historic architectural styles range from the Greek Revival to the Modernistic, with examples from the Victorian period being the most numerous. Although most storefronts have been altered, the buildings generally retain much of their historic integrity. Few modern intrusions have appeared to disrupt the prevailing nineteenth and early twentieth century character of the historic district.

The former Union Station (#l) marks the south end of the Brattleboro Downtown Historic District, standing opposite the intersection where three streets converge to form Main Street. Crossing the cascades of Whetstone Brook a short distance upstream from its confluence with the Connecticut River, Main Street ascends the north slope of the brook ravine and continues along a narrow riverine terrace to the Wells Fountain (#26), the north end of the historic district at the point where the street divides under different names.

Four perpendicular streets‚Flat, Elliot, High, and Grove from south to north‚lead away from the west side of Main Street; the historic district follows them only for short distances. Behind the buildings along the east side of Main Street, a steep bank descends to the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks following the broad Connecticut River. The parallel ridge of Wantastiquet Mountain rises abruptly 1100 feet above the river from the New Hampshire shore, constituting the dominant landform in the area; much polychrome quartzite building stone used in Brattleboro was quarried on this mountain.

The southern three-block stretch of Main Street together with the east ends of the intersecting Flat, Elliot, and High Streets contains the densely developed commercial core of Brattleboro. The terrain rises abruptly from Whetstone Brook and the parallel Flat Street to the higher level of Elliot Street only a short city block to the north; buildings fronting the south side of Elliot Street generally descend three stories below that grade to foundations on the Flat Street plane. North of Elliot Street, the commercial core occupies the relatively flat surface of the riverine terrace.

In this part of the historic district, three- and four-story, flat-roofed, brick commercial blocks stand at the street lines, mostly attached in rows with relatively uniform cornice lines. A solitary Greek Revival style building, the Van Doorn Block (#5), survives in this area. Most of the architecture of this area represents the High Victorian period of Italianate, Second Empire, and Queen Anne influence together with a turn-of-the-century infusion of the Commercial style. The later Latchis Hotel (#61) introduced both the Modernistic style and precast concrete sheathing to the historic district. The Main Street clock (#l7B) constitutes this area's most important piece of street furniture. A modest attempt has been made recently to establish street plantings of small trees.

Northward from High Street, the predominant character of Main Street changes abruptly from commercial to civic and religious buildings. These buildings stand unattached and set back from the street amidst peripheral grounds; although modest in area, these grounds provide the only green space within the historic district (the Brattleboro Common lies a short distance to the north in a residential area). Large deciduous trees - especially American elms - formerly shaded this stretch of Main Street; in recent years, however, most of the trees have succumbed to disease or encroaching pavement, giving the street an increasingly barren appearance.

The buildings in this part of the historic district exhibit a diversity of architectural styles. Examples range from the modified Greek Revival of the Centre Congregational Church (#23) through several High Victorian Gothic, Second Empire, and Georgian Revival buildings to modern rectilinear blocks. More twentieth century examples occur here than in the commercial core, the result of contemporary redevelopment that brought several large civic and commercial buildings into a previously residential area .

The upper.Main Street buildings possess a somewhat different array of form, scale, and materials than the commercial blocks to the south. Several buildings - particularly the recent bank blocks (#22 and 24) and the early twentieth century ex-armory (#25) and Federal Building (#32) - share the three- or four-story, flat-roofed, brick character predominant in the commercial core. In contrast, the three churches (#23, 30, and 34) are distinguished by their structural materials - one of stone, one of brick, and the third wood framed - while their gable roofs and multi-stage towers constitute the most dramatically vertical forms in the historic district. Only two wood-framed representatives (#29 and 33) remain of domestic scale, and both have been enlarged by additions. Three recent buildings (#22, 24, and the Brattleboro public library #28) introduce the severely rectilinear forms of contemporary design expressed in asymmetrically arranged facades of brick, concrete, and glass.

A greater variety of building types - and adaptive uses - occurs along upper Main Street than in the commercial core. The formerly predominant houses have been reduced to two examples (#29 and 33) and both have been converted to other uses (offices and fraternal lodge). Two of the churches (#23 and 34) continue to serve their congregations while the third (#30) has been deconsecrated and converted to commercial use. The former high school (#27) has been adapted to contain municipal offices, and the former armory (#25) has become a center for social service agencies. The redevelopment of this area continues in the 1980's with the construction of the two blocks (#22 and 24) on sites formerly occupied by houses.

The buildings in the historic district are generally being maintained in good condition. Most of the commercial blocks have been subjected to alteration of their storefronts while their upper stories remain more or less intact. An unusually large number and variety of buildings have been adapted to other than their original uses; in addition to those mentioned above, the examples include the former Union Station (#1, converted to a museum and art center), the Paramount Theatre (#20, converted from a commercial block), the former Brooks House hotel (#41, adapted to apartments), the former Central Fire Station (#45, converted to commercial use), the former Methodist Church (#50, also converted to commercial use), and three former automobile garages (#39, 56, and 60, adapted to other commercial use). Most of these adaptations have occurred in recent years, and the buildings have been refurbished or somewhat altered during the process.

In 1979, a Community Development project was undertaken to improve the appearance of Elliot Street and its buildings, several of which (#52-60) stand within the historic district. The three-year Elliot Street Revitalization Project has been awarded grants totaling approximately $300,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to cover both architectural services and construction. The architectural firm of John Rogers and George Heller of Putney, Vermont has designed the facade improvements to reveal and enhance historic fabric; inappropriate sheathing and and signage are being removed, historic materials and components are being cleaned and repaired, and facades are being repainted in polychrome where appropriate. The street itself has received Victorian-style columnar light fixtures, brick paving of pedestrian spaces, and other amenities.

Descriptions follow of the individual buildings in the historic district; numbers refer to the enclosed sketch map.

1. Brattleboro Union Station (Vernon Street); 1915.
Converted circa 1970 to a museum and art center, the former Union Station was built in 1915 against the embankment between the railroad tracks and Vernon Street. The one-story, hip-roofed stone main block stands on the higher street level along with a flat-roofed south wing; the basement descends to track level, where Amtrak maintains a small waiting room for passengers. Entered in the National Register on June 7, 1974.

2. Boston and Main Railroad Stone Arch Bridge; 1878.
Constructed by the Vermont Valley Railroad in 1878 to replace a covered wood bridge, this single-span granite arch carries the southbound main track of the Boston and Main Railroad across the Whetstone Brook at its confluence with the Connecticut River. The arch's voussoirs consist of rock-faced cut blocks while the spandrels are infilled with partly coursed rubble. The bridge's deck is overlaid with rock ballast for the track, and a wood walkway is cantilevered from its west edge.

During the 1913 construction of a second main (northbound) track, a steel girder and concrete span was built at an acute angle to the east flank of the stone arch to carry the realigned second track. Like that of the arch, its north abutment is built of cut stone blocks laid in irregular courses; the south abutments of both spans have been either rebuilt or encased in concrete.

3. Former electrical generating station (Arch Street); 1895.
Constructed in 1895 by the Brattleboro Gaslight Co. to contain its thermal electrical generating plant, the two-story central block of this utilitarian flat-roofed, brick building is flanked by one-story east and west wings. On the south elevation, an exposed basement forms an additional story above Whetstone Brook; window openings on that elevation have semicircular heads along with the stone sills common to openings on the other elevations. The east wing next to the railroad tracks is decorated with hinged brick corners and a corbeled cornice. The metal skeleton of an electrical substation stands adjacent to the building's west elevation.

4. Barrows Office (35 Main Street); circa 1930.
This small flat-roofed, brick office building was attached circa 1930 to the south elevation of the three-story, flat-roofed, brick Barrows Block. The latter commercial block was destroyed by fire in 1978; part of its south wall (with infilled window openings) survives to form the north elevation of the present building. An exposed basement story next to Whetstone Brook underlies the building's single story at the level of Main Street.

5. Van Doorn or Culver Block (51 Main Street); 1850.
Erected in l850 for Anthony Van Doorn to contain his residence and tenements, this Greek Revival style, three and one-half story, brick building has its narrower three-bay eaves elevation oriented to Main Street. The broad six-bay north and south elevations rise to fully pedimented gables, with two floor levels within the large pediment. Stone lintels and sills enframe the window openings, now occupied by one-over-one sash in place of the original six-over-six. At the west corner of the south elevation, an added two-story, metal-clad bay window extends downward to light a small storefront in the exposed basement.

On the street facade, the left-bay main entrance and flanking storefront have been somewhat altered. The original double-leaf paneled doors and surmounting semielliptical fanlight have been removed, leaving a void beneath the keystoned brick arch; the present doorways are deeply recessed behind the opening. The two original windows to the right of the entrance have been replaced by one large display window. Around the truncated southeast corner of the block, a four-story, wood-framed (with metal siding), shed-roofed east wing has a triangular plan to conform to the alignment of the little-used Arch Street right-of-way on the southeast.

6. Ullery Block (57-61 Main Street); circa 1900.
The Ullery Block consists of a three-story, flat-roofed, brick commercial block built circa 1900 with an eclectic array of decorative features. On the seven-bay upper stories of its pressed-brick main (west) facade, stone-trimmed paneled pilasters articulate the central bay and corners, rising to support a frieze embellished with a terra cotta band of Sullivanesque interlace and, above that, a corbeled denticulated cornice (whose top courses have been rebuilt). Splayed keystoned lintels and stone sills give emphasis to the regular fenestration. On the first story, the central entrance to the upper stories with its semicircular fanlight and the south storefront with its recessed central entrance flanked by display windows retain their original form although sheathed with white Carrara glass panels; the north storefront now has modern plate-glass display windows and a side entrance.

6A. Ullery Block Annex (Arch Street); circa 1900. Connected by a passageway, this four-story, flat-roofed, brick industrial annex of polygonal plan stands to the rear (east) of the Ullery Block on the lower level near the railroad tracks. Following the line of Arch Street, the diagonal five-bay southeast facade has segmental-arched openings with stone sills and is crowned by a corbeled cornice. The annex abuts on the northeast the similar American Building Annex (#7A).

7. American Building (63-73 Main Street); 1906.
Constructed in 1906 for Leroy F. Adams and Charles R. Crosby at a cost of nearly $100,000 and taking its name from the Greek Revival style hotel that it displaced, this substantial four-story, flat-roofed, brick commercial block shows the influence of the contemporary Commercial style. On its symmetrically arranged main (west) facade, the end bays of its upper stories are occupied by embayed Chicago windows with classically detailed stamped metal surrounds and spandrels. Between the Chicago windows, eight bays of window openings with gauged segmental-arch lintels and rock-faced sills are grouped into panels of three-two-and-three by central piers that, along with corner piers, rise from the original storefront cornice to a slightly projecting denticulated roof cornice. The storefronts have been altered in various ways but share a uniform reddish color scheme; originally the left (north) pair had full-height display windows while, to the right of the recessed upper-story entrance, a double storefront featured the two largest display windows in Vermont at that time.

The front (west) facade is distinguished by its Ohio pressed brick sheathing of light straw color, that being continued onto the north and south elevations to a depth of one bay. On the north, two single-bay angled projections face the street along an alley leading to the building's annex (#7A). The main block carries atop the center of its roof a large four-bay square belvedere capped by a hip roof bearing a flagstaff.

7A. American Building Annex (Arch Street); 1906. A two-story wing attached to the rear (east) elevation of the American Building (#7) connects it to the large four-story, flat-roofed, brick industrial annex that stands on the lower level next to the railroad tracks, extending eleven bays parallel to the tracks on its east facade. Fenestration consists predominantly of segmental-arched window openings with stone sills; three bays of coupled sash (with straight lintels on the lower stories) mark the annex's angled southeast facade abutting the Ullery Block Annex (#6A). A corbeled cornice crowns both facades. From its construction until 1981, the annex was occupied by the Vermont Printing Co., and its successor, the Brattleboro Publishing Co., publishers of the local newspaper, the Brattleboro Daily Reformer.

8. Richardson Building (77-83 Main Street); 1924.
Built in 1924, this three-story, four-bay, flat-roofed, brick commercial block displays various ornamental details taken from the contemporary Georgian Revival style. The main (west) facade carries a denticulated main cornice attached to the wall plane below a brick parapet. The window openings have stone sills and keystoned heads, the latter being segmental arched on the third story and splayed flat-arched on the second story. Below a diminished storefront cornice, end piers with oval cartouche-like ornament frame the storefront which now consists of broad expanses of plate glass flanking a recessed center entrance.

9. Devens Block (85-87 Main Street); circa 1840-45.
Although differing slightly on the lower stories from the adjoining Exchange and Cutler's Blocks (#10 and 11) to the north, the three-story, five-bay, brick Devens Block share.an identical third story and corbeled cornice with those blocks, thereby forming part of a sixteen-bay continuous facade. The three blocks were apparently constructed during the period 1840-45, giving them the distinction of being probably the oldest commercial blocks in the Brattleboro Downtown Historic District.

The exterior appearance of the Devens Block differs from its neighbors by its taller storefront (with recessed central entrance) beneath a massive rock-faced granite lintel and its taller second-story window openings (now partly blocked down) that share the granite lintels and sills common to the three blocks. The storefront has been altered similarly to those on the adjoining Exchange Block (#10) with modern plate-glass display windows .

10. Exchange Block (89-93 Main Street); circa 1840-45.
Constructed for James H. and William H. Esterbrook, who kept a stove shop in the building, the seven-bay Exchange Block comprises the middle section of the continuous facade formed by buildings #9-11. The appearance of its upper stories matches almost exactly that of Cutler's Block (#11) to its left. On the first story, a distinction occurs in the slightly lower level of its altered storefronts corresponding to the downward slope of the ground. The Exchange Block retains six-over-nine sash on its upper stories.

11. Cutler's Block (95-97 Main Street); circa 1840-45.
The northern four bays of the continuous facade formed by buildings #9-11 belong to the block erected for Jason Cutler, owner of a contemporary bakery. Except for the one-over-one sash (and added shutters), the upper stories of Cutler's Block match those of the Exchange Block (#10) to its right. The Cutler's Block storefront has been the most severely altered among those in the tripartite row, having partial wood sheathing and a side entrance.

12. Union Block (101-105 Main Street); circa 1861.
Its name deriving possibly from the political division contemporary to its circa 1861 construction, the three-story, nine-bay, brick Union Block constitutes an excellent example of the Italianate Revival style; the upper stories of its main (west) facade retain essentially their original appearance. The regular fenestration is marked by segmental-arched openings on the second story and round heads on the third story, both crowned by denticulated corbeled hood moldings. The facade terminates in a projecting wood cornice supported by paired brackets rising from an arcaded frieze.

The first story presents a side-by-side contrast between original fabric and severe alteration. The three-bay right storefront retains its cast iron pilasters and large display windows flanking a recessed central entrance. Beyond the fanlighted upper-story entrance, the wider left storefront has been altered with clapboard siding, multi-paned display windows and a bellcast copper-sheathed canopy.

A unique decorative feature is affixed to the wall surface between the second and third stories. A large bronze plaque extends the width of the facade, bearing the name 'Amedeo de Angelis' in raised block letters flanked by eagles holding shields. The name was that of an immigrant Italianate shoemaker who owned the building during the 1920's and 1930's and who expressed publicly his appreciation for his adopted country by means of the plaque, reputed to have cost $12,000.

13. Granite Block (109-113 Main Street); circa 1850.
The name of this four-story, seven-bay commercial block refers more accurately to the material of its corner quoins and segmental-arched hood molds than the polychrome quartzite rubble used in its wall construction (excepting the added three-bay fourth story). During the 1860's, a full mansard with three pedimented dormers replaced the gable roof of the originally three-story building. Early in the present century, the mansard was expanded into a full story (now sheathed with asbestos shingles) crowned by a bracketed cornice. More recently, the building's storefronts have been extensively altered, but they retain their original continuous storefront cornice and sign band.

14. Perry Block (115 Main Street); circa 1850.
Now a four-story, three-bay, flat-roofed building, this brick commercial block originally composed (circa 1850) the south section of a three-story, eleven-bay continuous facade incorporating the Ranger Block (#15) on its left. The second and third stories of the two buildings retain their original essentially uniform appearance with regular fenestration enframed by granite lintels and sills.

The Perry Block's distinctive fourth story was added circa 1890 to the originally gable-roofed building; its three bays possess segmental-arched openings above which a bracketed modillioned cornice with denticulated frieze crowns the facade. The building's single storefront has been completely altered in recent years.

15. Ranger Block (117-125 Main Street); circa 1850.
The larger, eight-bay section of the original continuous facade incorporating the adjoining Perry Block (#14), the Ranger Block is distinguished by its fourth story, added circa 1920 with flat-arched window openings and a scalloped corbeled cornice. On the second story, the left (north) four bays have slightly taller openings than the right three bays, deriving an original division of the block apparent in early photographs. The two storefronts with recessed central entrances have been extensively altered with modern plate glass display windows; to their right, an upper-story entrance shared with the Perry Block has a pilastered stone-veneered surround.

16. Ryther Block (127-129 Main Street); 1884.
Being of a larger scale than its four-story neighbors to the south, the three-story, five-bay, flat-roofed, brick Ryther Block matches their height and cornice line. Constructed in 1884 for William Ryther, the commercial block's main (west) facade is subdivided by granite-trimmed brick piers into two double-bay panels of window openings (with rock-faced granite lintels and sills) flanked by a single south bay. A corbeled beltcourse spans the left four bays between the second and third stories, terminated by intermediate capital blocks on the piers. Atop the four-bay section of the facade, the piers rise past the deep corbeled paneled frieze to support ornamental brackets at the massive copper-sheathed, richly ornamented cornice. The fifth (south) bay lacks a south corner pier and is crowned by a lower simplified cornice; it contains the building's main entrance and stairwell. The storefront has been completely altered with partial wood sheathing and angled display windows.

17. Hooker-Dunham Block (133-145 Main Street); 1884.
Rivaling the length of the Crosby Block (#42) diagonally across the street, this three-story, fifteen-bay, flat-roofed, buff-brick commercial block was erected for George W. Hooker in 1884 and dominates the east side of Main Street. Its symmetrically arranged main (west) facade is articulated vertically by slightly projecting three-bay terminal pavilions and a one-bay central entrance pavilion that flank four-bay intermediate panels. A horizontal belt - terra cotta on the pavilions and dog-toothed brick on the intermediate panels - delineates each upper story, and a prominent slotted corbeled cornice crowns the facade. The upper-story window openings have segmental heads and stone sills (along with a random pattern of recently added shutters). The several storefronts have been variously altered but share recently applied wood sheathing. Originally the storefronts possessed transomed display windows and recessed double-leaf doorways, and were separated by brick piers with terra cotta capitals that supported the continuous granite storefront lintel.

17A. Hooker-Dunham Block Annex: 1897-1900. Constructed in 1897-1900 at the rear (east) of the Hooker-Dunham Block, this flat-roofed brick annex rises six stories from the level of the railroad tracks to exceed the size of the main block.

17B. Main Street Clock (141 Main Street); 1908. Brattleboro's street clock stands on the sidewalk in front of the Hooker Dunham Block (#17). The cast-iron fixture consists of a tall paneled pedestal bearing an attenuated Corinthian column that supports the circular clock head crowned by a closed cresting. The two clock faces are marked with roman numerals and lettered 'Brattleboro, Vermont.' Installed in 1908, the clock was made by the Brown Street Clock Co. of Monessen, Pennsylvania.

18. former Vermont Savings Bank Block (151-153 Main Street); 1869, circa 1935.
Decorated with various neo-classical details, the main (west) facade of this three-story, three-bay, flat-roofed, brick commercial block dates from a circa 1935 reconstruction. The concrete details include a pilastered office front with entablature surmounted by a central broken pediment, splayed lintels on the upper-story windows, a third-story blind oculus, and a molded cornice. The remainder of the building was constructed in 1869, and the six-bay south elevation retains its original round-arched window openings.

The 1935 reconstruction destroyed the original High Victorian Italianate .style facade, probably the most ornate commercial facade to appear in Brattleboro. Subdivided vertically by pilasters into single side bays flanking a central double-bay panel, the symmetrically arranged stone-trimmed facade also carried strong horizontal articulation provided by inter-story cornices and projecting continuous sills. The facade was crowned by a spectacular roof cornice supported by giant scrolled brackets and bearing a pedimented parapet culminating in finials. The round-arched upper-story window openings were framed by pilasters and, on the second story, stone hood molds. On the first story, twin side-bay pilastered entrances flanked a central plate glass window.

The Vermont Savings Bank occupied this building throughout its history, being responsible both for the original construction (under the name of a corporate predecessor) and the 1935 reconstruction of the main facade. A merger with the Vermont National Bank in the 1950's removed the Savings Bank from the building; subsequently it has been used for offices.

19. Commercial building (155-159 Main Street); 1981.
1-story; brick veneer and metal sheathing; flat roof. Non-contributing owing to age.

20. Paramount Theatre (165-169 Main Street); circa 1850, 1937.
The present appearance of this three-story, seven-bay, flat-roofed, mostly brick block differs substantially from its original circa 1850 appearance. In 1937, the building was enlarged at the rear (east) and converted to a movie theatre, with an accompanying attempt to make it appear modern. The main (west) facade was sheathed with reddish enameled metal panels; a neon sign band reading 'Home of Paramount Pictures' was affixed atop the wall plane; and a large overhanging marquee was mounted above the deeply recessed theatre entrance. The latter occupies the right bays, replacing an original store front; an altered storefront with recessed central entrance remains on the left side.

The north elevation of the building reveals its original brick construction with stone lintels and sills. The upper stories of the south elevation (exposed by the demolition of a similar-scaled commercial block on the site of the adjoining building, #19) also show original materials, the second story being constructed of quartzite rubble instead of brick. Stone quoins appear on the west corners of both side elevations, indicating the cut granite blocks used to construct and distinguish the main facade.

The original gable roof of the building extended parallel to the street and terminated in brick gable parapets. An oriel window was added to the left bays of the main facadeıs second story early in the present century but was removed probably at the time of the theatre conversion.

21. Commercial building (181-183 Main Street); 1953.
One-story, brick, flat roof; storefront on west facade; constructed from lst-story shell of demolished Brattleboro Town Hall, whose rusticated granite foundation appears on south elevation. Non-contributing owing to age.

22. Burlington Savings Bank Building (185-187 Main Street(; 1980.
Two stories, brick, flat roof; 2-story, glass-sheathed entrance pavilion on west facade. Non-contributing owing to age.

23. Centre Congregational Church (193 Main Street); 1842, 1864.
The predominant architectural landmark along the east side of Main Street, the Centre Congregational Church incorporates in its present appearance architectural fabric from several periods. Built originally in 1816 on the Brattleboro Common (north of the historic district), the church was dismantled in 1842, reconstructed in an altered manner on its present site, and rededicated early in 1843. The temple-form main block represents the Greek Revival style of that period while the multi-stage tower and rear wings of the building have been added during the succeeding century.

The wood-framed main block rises two stories to a slate-shingled gable roof oriented perpendicular to the street; it extends five bays in length along the north elevation. The three-bay main (west) facade is sheathed with flush boards to suggest stone, an effect enhanced by wood corner quoins. The engaged tower constitutes the central bay, interrupting the fully pedimented gable. Twin secondary entrances occupy the side bays on the first story directly below flat-topped second-story windows; both sets of openings are sheltered by bracketed entablature.

Added in 1864, the Italianate Revival style central tower soars three times the height of the main block through four stages and a culminating spire. The churchıs main entrance occupies the tower's base, its double leaf paneled doors enframed by pilasters that support the keystoned hood mold of the semicircular fanlight that shows the influence of the Romanesque Revival style. A similar surround marks the similar second-story stained glass window, springing from an attenuated return of the molded roof cornice carried around the tower. The quoined base stage emerges in full depth above the ridgeline to conclude at a projecting cornice.

The tower's diminished, quoined second stage contains the original town clock. The clock was made by George Holbrook of Medbury, Massachusetts and installed in 1816 when the church was constructed on its original site. The round clock face on each elevation has Roman numerals and is crowned by a keystoned hood molding similar to those below. Another projecting cornice terminates the clock stage.

The belfry occupies the next diminished stage, its corners defined by pilasters that rise to a projecting cornice; a round-headed louvered opening with molded surround marks each face of the belfry. The next upper stage is octagonal in plan and is decorated with slender round-arched blind panels flanked by corner pilasters that carry a projecting cornice. The octagonal stage forms the transition to the shingled spire, which tapers upward to a finial and metal weathervane.

At the time of its reconstruction on the present site in 1842, the church possessed a substantially different appearance. The west front was distinguished by a Doric portico, and a steeple stood atop the roof. In 1864, a violent storm blew down the spire, severing it above the clock chamber. This event and a contemporary need for more interior space caused the alteration of the west front to its present form. The main block was extended forward the depth of the portico, and the central tower was erected to engage the new facade. (The tower was fitted with a new bell from a Troy, New York foundry, replacing the original bell cast by the maker of the tower clock, George Holbrook.) Again in 1929, the tower was partly destroyed - by a fire that also damaged the roof - but subsequently was rebuilt to match its previous appearance.

The church received its first addition in 1854, when the two-story rear (east) wing was built to provide a chapel. A new chapel appeared circa 1870 in a one and one-half story south ell attached to the east wing, the latter being converted to "ladies' parlors." Half a century later, in 1924, the south ell was enlarged to its present two-story, flat-roofed form with Georgian Revival characteristics (including a second-story Palladian window) designed by Hutchins and French, Architects of Boston. Different exterior materials and color were introduced in 1966 when a one-story, flat-roofed brick extension was added to the south ell.

In 1981, the historic integrity of the church was compromised by the application of vinyl sheathing to the side elevations and the two-story additions. The sheathing conceals the original clapboards, cornices, corner quoins, and other stylistic elements; only the west front and the tower now (1982) retain their historic appearance.

24. Merchants Bank Building (201-205 Main Street); 1980.
Four stories, brick, flat roof, ribbon windows; set back deeply from street behind adjacent buildings, #23 and 25. Non-contributing owing to age.

25. former Brattleboro Memorial Armory (207 Main Street); 1922.
This prominent civic building marks the northern limit of the historic district along the east side of Main Street. Constructed in 1922, the three-story, flat-roofed brick block emulates the scale, massing, and design of the slightly earlier Federal building (#32) across the street. The former armory consists of a stone-trimmed, five-bay by three-bay (deep) main block coupled to an undecorated rear (east) block that extends eight bays in length, each bay being defined by brick piers.

On the five-bay west front of the main block, a three-bay central pavilion projects slightly forward and surrounds the round-arched, keystoned portal leading to the deeply recessed double-leaf main entrance. The pavilion interrupts the stone water table that delimits the partly exposed basement. The first story is marked by keystoned flat-arched window openings with eight-over-eight sash, above which a projecting stone beltcourse encircles the main block. The upper stories are related by their triptych windows; the second-story windows have plain rectangular openings while those on the third story occupy keystoned, round-arched openings (like that of the main entrance) tied together by an impost stringcourse. A projecting stone cornice encircles the block below a brick parapet with a stepped stone coping; a rectangular stone tablet surmounts each bay along the parapet.

Since the demolition of Brattleboro's Town Hall in 1953, the former armory has served somewhat the same functions. Recently the building has been refurbished and adapted to contain offices of various social service agencies; its name has consequently been changed to Gibson-Aiken Center.

26. Wells Fountain (head of Main Street); 1890.
An outstanding piece of street furniture donated to the Town of Brattleboro by William Henry Wells, the Wells Fountain stands at the focal point where Main Street meets the diverging Linden Street and Putney Road. William Rutherford Mead, the renowned American architect who was born in Brattleboro in 1846, designed the fountain for installation in 1890; it is the only local example of his work. Its beige granite superstructure comprises twin polished columns with Corinthian capitals bearing a lintel carved with a denticulated entablature, from which is suspended an elaborate curvilinear iron lamp fixture. The columns straddle a circular basin decorated with leonine figures in relief - that shares the underlying stone dais; cylindrical granite bollards flank the dais.

The fountain marks approximately the site where the architect's older brother and prominent sculptor, Larkin G. Mead, Jr., created hi.s famous 'Snow Angel' on New Years' Eve of 1856. (A marble replica of that short-lived ice sculpture is exhibited at the Brooks Memorial Library, #28, across the street.) For half a century after installation of the fountain, the landscaped grounds of E. J. Carpenter's neighboring Italianate villa provided an appropriate background for the fountain. Then in 1933 the house was demolished and replaced by a gas station, leaving the fountain isolated in the midst of a paved expanse and surrounded by heavy vehicular traffic. Although the fountain itself remains intact, the historic character of its setting has been destroyed.

27. former Brattleboro High School (230 Main Street); 1882-84.
Overlooking the three-way intersection at the north end of Main Street from a knoll to the west, the massive two-story, marble-trimmed, brick former high school carries a slate-shingled truncated hip roof with an extensive deck. Numerous wall and roof projections give the building a strongly three-dimensional appearance. The contracting firm of Harris and Butterfield built the school in 1882-84 at a cost of $48,000, including furnishings.

A projecting central entrance pavilion dominates the main (east) facade, crowned by the castellated corbeled main cornice and capped by a large pyramidal-peaked roof (with triangular louvered dormers) that rises above the lower slope of the hip roof. Attached to the pavilion's first story, a gabled entrance porch with round arched openings shelters the double-leaf doorway; the porch is approached by a flight of marble steps that matches the height of the building's rubble stone foundation and marble water table. The central pavilion's second story is lighted by triple two-over-two sash sharing continuous marble sills and lintels, that being the standard window arrangement repeated on the flanking bays as well as the other elevations of the building. At each end of the east facade, a paneled corner pavilion repeats at smaller scale the form of the entrance pavilion; the peak of each pavilion's roof culminates in a metal cresting.

The asymmetrical north and south flanks of the building are composed of elements similar to those on the east front, excepting the added gabled dormers on the lower slope of the hip roof. The secondary west facade possesses an entrance pavilion that extends more than half its width, creating recessed corners in contrast to the projecting corner pavilions of the main facade. Atop the center of the roof stands a quartet of large brick ventilating cupolas with round-arched louvered openings and corbeled cornices.

After the completion in 1951 of a new union high school (outside the historic district), the building was converted (in 1953) to Brattleboro's Municipal Center containing the offices of local government; the exterior of the building remains essentially unchanged.

28. Brooks Memorial Library (224 Main Street); 1967.
Frid, Ferguson, Mahaffey, and Perry, Architects, Hartford, Conn.; 1967, 2 stories, brick and concrete with glass-sheathed east facade, flat roof with deep overhang; rear of building recessed into embankment. Non-contributing owing to age.

29. Burnham House (214-218 Main Street); circa 1860.
Now adapted to offices, this two and one-half story, wood-framed, stuccoed former house is oriented with its gable roof parallel to the street. A central triangular dormer with a round-arched window marks the east slope; the deeply overhung eaves are supported by scroll-sawn rafter tails. On the five-bay main (east) facade, the first story is distinguished by full height paired casement windows; the sidelighted main entrance now occupies the northernmost bay, probably shifted from the narrower central bay opposite the porch steps. A deep porch embellished with a curvilinear balustrade, chamfered posts, and a modillion cornice surrounds the public (north, east, and south) elevations.

The porch also provides access to a two-story, clapboarded, shed-roofed west wing. From the southwest corner of the wing, there extends a one story, flat-roofed ell constructed of rusticated concrete blocks; its pedimented east entrance porch repeats some of the main porch's ornamental details. The concrete-block ell was built to contain a doctor's office.

30. former All Souls Unitarian Church (210 Main Street); 1874-75.
Elbridge Boyden of Worcester, Massachusetts, the architect of two other buildings (#34 and 41) in the historic district, created a masterful expression of the High Victorian Gothic style in this modestly scaled church (now deconsecrated) of cruciform plan. Oriented perpendicular to Main Street, the one-story masonry structure was erected in 1874-75 at a cost of about $40,000. Its walls and northeast corner tower are built of polychrome quartzite rubble laid up in random courses and trimmed with hand-carved pale granite. The steeply pitched gable roof is shingled with slate.

The east gable front presents to Main Street a central entrance sheltered by a gabled porch, above which a rose window set within a pointed-arch surround dominates the facade. Approached by a flight of stone steps, the Tudor-arched openings of the porch are supported by polished Tuscan columns and stone piers; the coupled double-leaf doorways are surmounted by stained glass transoms set within a Tudor-arched surround. An attenuated tower defines the southeast corner of the facade, its truncated pyramidal roof not achieving the height of the main roof's ridgeline. Like those on the building's other gables, the raking eaves are trimmed with granite copings terminated by lower-corner gablets.

The principal tower projects from the north corner of the facade, containing a Tudor-arched secondary entrance in its base. The upper part of the base stage is occupied by the bell chamber, whose quoined louvered openings have Tudor-arched heads. The latter point toward lancets that mark the base of the stone broached spire. The spire tapers upward to culminate in a stone cross.

The three-bay north and south side elevations of the church are trimmed with granite water tables, corner quoins, and quoined Tudor-arched window surrounds. Near the west end of the main block, the gabled transepts project only slightly outward from the flanks, lighted by large three-part tracery windows. Atop the crossing stands a small cupola with pointed-arch louvers and a pyramidal roof. The west elevation of the church lacks openings; its raking eaves are punctuated by stone interior end chimneys.

The Unitarian parish vacated the church in 1970, moving to a new building in West Brattleboro. In 1972, a local law firm bought the property, including the adjacent former parish house (#31); subsequently the church has been converted to commercial use. While the exterior retains intact its historic appearance, the interior has been altered principally by the removal of its religious furnishings.

The interior shell continues to evoke its historic character. The major features include an exposed ceiling supported by ribbed rafter beams with collar ties, a choir loft above the east vestibule with a paneled front, the shallow sanctuary at the west end recessed beneath a pointed arch (and flanked on the north by the pipes of an organ), and wainscoting below the windows. The latter retain their original stained glass installed by Baker and Son of New York, illustrating the Life of Christ. Some original decoration also survives, including murals painted by W.J. McPherson of Boston and floral stenciling applied by Swedish parishioners employed at the Estey Organ Co. in Brattleboro.

31. former All Souls Unitarian Parish House (5 Grove Street); 1913.
Sited directly behind (west of) the former All Souls Unitarian Church (#30), the one and one-half story former parish house was designed by Harry K. White of New York, whose grandfather served on the building committee for the church itself. Constructed in 1913, the building stands on a polychrome quartzite rubble foundation, matching the principal material of the church; the downward slope of the ground toward the church exposes fully the east end of the basement story. The wood framed and wood-shingled main story rises to a slate-shingled jerkinhead roof whose deeply overhung eaves are carried by exposed rafter tails and carved eavesboards. On the asymmetrical main (south) facade, a transverse jerkinhead shelters a large three-part bay window with blind transoms; to its right, a gabled stone entrance porch with a round-arched opening projects from the basement wall.

The building shows the influence of the Western Stick style in its picturesque blend of natural materials and design characteristics. Vacated by the Unitarian parish in 1970, it has been adapted to contain law offices without alteration of its exterior appearance.

32. U.S. Post Office and Court House (204 Main Street); 1915-17.
Erected at a cost of $150,000 in 1915-17 under the architectural supervision of Oscar Wenderoth, the substantial Federal Building constitutes the only example of the Second Renaissance Revival style in the historic district, although expressed in brick rather than the usual stone facing. The rectangular three-story, stone-trimmed main block extends seven bays across the main (east) facade and four more widely spaced bays along its north and south flanks. A similarly scaled west block added in 1971-73 at a cost of $1,500,000 extends six bays in length.

The east front presents to Main Street an arcaded five-bay entrance pavilion that projects slightly forward of the flanking end bays. The rusticated first story contains three round-arched central doorways approached by a flight of stone steps matching in height the stone foundation; flanking the doorways, four elaborate iron lamps mounted on scrolled brackets illuminate the entrance. A heavy stone beltcourse provides a continuous sill for the second-story window openings as well as a base for the stone-trimmed brick pilasters that define the individual pavilion bays, rising to support another heavy beltcourse atop the third story. The decorative second-story windows consist of full-height casements protected by shallow iron balconets and surmounted by blind round arches inset with bas-relief figures. A prominent denticulated stone cornice encircles the main block, crowned by a parapet with intermittent balustrades.

On the north (Grove Street) flank of the building, the main blockıs stone beltcourses are carried across the west block to provide the only decoration of the latter. The beltcourses are omitted from west block's south flank, from which projects a one-story wing with a full-length, multi-bay loading dock. The west block was built to contain the mechanical equipment for the mail processing center that serves most of Windham County; the main block was refurbished during the construction project.

33. Masonic Temple (196 Main Street); circa 1910.
The two-story, wood-framed and clapboarded, hip-roofed main block of this building indicates a residential origin, and its Georgian (Colonial) Revival style distinguishes it from an added larger-scaled, two-story, hip roofed west block. The symmetrical three-bay main (east) facade is oriented around a central sidelighted entrance; a clapboard-railed porch extends the width of the facade, interrupted by a central pedimented entrance pavilion supported by paired half-length columns. On the second story, a Palladian window occupies the central bay. A modillion cornice encircles the main block, above which the slate-shingled hip roof rises to a cornice at the perimeter of its deck; a central pedimented dormer projects from each slope of the roof.

At the joint between the main block and the offset west addition, a south interior corner entrance porch leads to the latter block; its window openings have been blinded on both stories.

34. First Baptist Church (190 Main Street); 1867-70.
A few years prior to his work on All Souls Unitarian Church (#30), Elbridge Boyden created a somewhat different expression of the High Victorian Gothic style for the First Baptist Church. Standing on a rock-faced granite foundation and trimmed with Portland stone, the two-story, gable-roofed brick church was constructed in 1867-70 at a cost of $50,000; J. M. Buzzell was the superintendent of the project. Originally, an engaged central tower containing the main entrance dominated its east gable facade; pinnacles sprouted from the upper corners of the tower, intermediate points on the raking eaves, and the lower corners of the roof. A range of triangular dormers occupied each slope of the slate-shingled roof. The tower's 4,500-pound bell was hung in 1868, reputedly the largest in Vermont at that time.

Two decades later, in 1889, the church's appearance was changed appreciably by a $28,000 enlargement. Charles Wentworth, partner of Ralph Adams Cram, designed the addition of a truncated entrance tower to each corner of the east front and a three-story wing on the west elevation. The added towers and the contemporary removal of various pinnacles reflect the Late Gothic Revival style then emerging from the Cram office.

At the same time, the original central tower received a large pointed-arch stained glass window in place of the main entrance. Accentuated by corner buttresses, the tower rises through a three-story base stage to a diminished bell chamber marked by coupled pointed-arch louvers and crowned by a figured cornice. An octagonal spire rises from the bell chamber, shingled with polychrome patterned slate and tapering upward to a culminating needle.

Now nearly obscured by ivy, the wall surfaces of the east front are bisected by stepped buttresses that interrupt the scalloped corbeled roof cornice. Like those in the towers, the lancet windows are recessed within pointed-arch stone surrounds with chiseled sills. The buttressed corner towers contain the twin main entrances of the church, whose double-leaf doorways are surmounted by stained glass transoms and recessed within pointed arch surrounds; stepped lancets on the tower side walls correlate to interior stairs. The roof cornice continues around each tower, interrupted in the front by a lancet window in the position of a wall dormer; the towers are capped by pyramidal roofs.

On the north and south flanks of the church, wall buttresses define the individual bays. A one-story gallery with Tudor-arched openings extends along the north flank, connecting the north tower and the north projection of the west wing. The three-story, hip-roofed wing was added to the rear of the church in 1889 to provide a chapel and meeting rooms.

The 1889 project brought to the church its first stained glass window created by the Tiffany Studios of New York: 'Christ Among the Doctors' was installed in the central tower (the principal window in the church) as a memorial to Jacob and Desdemona Estey. Another Tiffany window, 'St. John, the Divine,' was installed in 1896 in memory of Levi Fuller, partner of Jacob Estey in the latter's organ manufactory and former Governor of Vermont. In 1906, the Estey family contributed a pipe organ from its factory to honor Julius J. Estey, son of the company's founder; the company had commenced production of that type of organ in 1901 during Julius Esteyıs presidency.

35. Former Montgomery Ward Company building (182-184 Main Street); 1929.
The construction of this two-story, three-bay, flat-roofed, brick block for the Montgomery Ward Co. in 1929 introduced a form of Art Nouveau ornamentation to the stylistic variety along Main Street. On the precast concrete-paneled main (east) facade, the second story retains the basic elements of its original appearance. Paneled piers rise from the high storefront cornice to the curvilinear parapet inset with polychrome terra cotta panels; floral blocks, naturalistic swags, and a central-panel Art Nouveau female figure embellish the piers and parapet; the piers separate transomed Chicago windows with coved upper corners. Some original details - including terminal urns atop the parapet - have been removed, and a mezzanine band of hinged windows has been sheathed (circa 1970) with wood paneling. The northerly of the original twin recessed entrances has been eliminated from the plate glass-enclosed storefront flanked by end piers with floral blocks. The building extends back at an acute angle to ~the street, approaching within a few feet both the south tower and the southwest (rear) corner of the adjacent First Baptist Church (#34).

36. Commercial building (178-180 Main Street); 1929.
One-story, brick/stuccoed, flat roof; original plate-glass storefront with recessed central entrance and stepped parapet has been completely altered (c.1970) with wood sheathing and false mansard. Non-contributing owing to alteration.

37. Dunkin' Donuts (176 Main Street); 1970.
One-story, concrete block, false mansard. Non-contributing owing to age.

38. Manley Apartment Building (29 High Street); 1918.
A large flat-roofed brick commercial block of L-plan, the Manley Apartment Building was constructed in l918 for John and Robert Manley to contain their automobile showrooms and workshops on the lower stories and apartments in the upper ones. The building rises four stories above the level of Main Street on its east and north elevations; the fourteen-bay main (south) facade loses a story between its east and west ends owing to the upward slope of High Street. The public (east, south, and west) elevations are articulated horizontally by inter-story concrete beltcourses and vertically by irregularly-arranged brick piers that culminate in intermittent parapets. In recent years, the storefronts on the south and west elevations have been altered with wood sheathing and the automobile-related spaces have been converted to other uses.

39. Manley Brothers Block (22-28 High Street); c.1910.
Standing across the street from the Manley Brothers' apartment building (#38), this four-story, flat-roofed brick commercial block of rectangular plan extends eight bays across the High Street (north) facade and twenty bays along the Green Street (west) flank. Brick piers subdivide the north facade into a six-bay central panel flanked by single-bay side panels while the side (east and west) elevations display a regular pattern of double-bay panels; the piers rise to simple corbel tables at the roofline. The segmental-arched window openings have rock-faced sills.

The building was erected circa 1910 for the Brooks House (#41) hotel corporation and then leased to John and Robert Manley for their automobile repair and rental business that served both hotel guests and the public. Ramps provided access to the upper stories of the west flank from southward ascending Green Street on the adjacent hillside. Subsequently converted to other uses, the building's High Street storefronts have been altered (in 1977) with wood sheathing surmounted by a false mansard. A contemporary one-story, flat-roofed (also with false mansard) brick ell has been added to the rear of the east elevation.

40. Retting Block (16-20 High Street); circa 1850.
This two-story, flat-roofed, wood-framed building consists of a four-bay main block plus a two-bay west wing that projects forward of the main block. The building has lost most of its nineteenth century character through substantial alteration, including removal of its original gable roof, changes in first-story fenestration on the main (north) facade, and the application of metal siding. The latter conceals most of the original stylistic details, except the paired brackets at the roof cornice; pseudo colonial elements have been substituted around the main entrance.

The Retting Block was constructed circa 1850 and thereafter used for a Masonic hall. The building was saved from the Great Fire of 1869 that destroyed the entire block of Main Street between High and Elliot Streets. After being displaced from another building by the fire, John J. Retting, an immigrant German furniture maker, moved his store into the building; Rettingıs sons continued the business following his retirement. Subsequently the building has been extensively altered and converted to contain offices. Non-contributing owing to alterations.

41. Brooks House (120-136 Main Street); 1871-72.
Entered in the National Register on February 1, 1980. An outstanding example of a Second Empire style hotel designed by Elbridge Boyden and now converted to the largest commercial building in the historic district, the Brooks House dominates Main Street and extends around the corner onto High Street. The stone-trimmed brick building rises three stories to a dormered mansard crowned on the northeast corner by a fifth story tower and an extended mansard above the original Main Street entrance.

42. Crosby Block (106-118 Main Street); 1870-71.
Edward Crosby, a prominent entrepreneur whose grain and flour business extended throughout northern New England, initiated redevelopment of the scene of the 1869 fire the following year. A local architect, George A. Hines, designed for Crosby this elongated three-story, flat-roofed, brick commercial block; its construction - contracted by J. D. Plummer - required more than 1,000,000 bricks and cost (including the lot) $100,000. Completed in 1871, the Crosby Block extended 26 bays from the Brooks House (#41) to the corner of Main and Elliot Streets, constituting the longest continuous facade ever built in Brattleboro's downtown. In 1958-59, the southernmost seven-bay section of the block was stripped of its exterior shell and rebuilt in a contemporary style (see building #43), reducing the facade to its present length of 19 bays.

The upper stories of the truncated block retain their original appearance, although the overall symmetry of the design has been interrupted. The pressed brick main (east) facade is subdivided into three-bay panels by quoined brick piers that rise from the storefront cornice to support a paneled frieze (bearing the block's name at its original center) below the arcaded corbel tables of the prominent roof cornice. The window openings on both upper stories have stone sills and hood molds; the latter differ in form to distinguish the stories, being straight on the second story and segmental-arched on the third story. The storefronts have been completely altered in a confusion of materials and forms; the original corbeled storefront cornice survives only across the northernmost 13 bays.

43. Vermont National Bank Building (100 Main Street); 1958-59.
Upon completion of the Crosby Block (#42), the Vermont National Bank purchased for $15, 500 the southernmost seven bays of the block's first story to contain its headquarters. During the first half of the present century, the first story was remodeled twice with marble veneer and neo-classical details. Then in 1958-59 the entire exterior shell was dismantled and replaced by this four-story, flat-roofed office block. Its design breaks completely the continuity of the original Crosby Block facade, interjecting on the east front three bays of coupled windows set in vertically continuous metal frames between wall panels of yellow brick; the first story is sheathed with stone veneer surrounding a recessed central entrance.

The wider Elliot Street (south) elevation displays the same appearance aside from the doubling of the vertical window bands. The original south elevation extended six bays marked by plain granite lintels and sills; both the storefront and roof cornices were carried also across this elevation.

The present building does not contribute to the character of the historic district.

44. Market Block (15-23 Elliot Street); 1873.
Also constructed for Edward Crosby to continue (in 1873) the post-1869 fire redevelopment, this two-story, granite-trimmed, brick commercial block extends eight bays across its main (south) facade. The building was originally capped with a flat roof; later in the nineteenth century, it was enlarged by the addition of a high quasi-mansard roof surmounted by a parapet. The nine-bay east flank includes a single-bay, wood-framed rear (north) extension added probably together with the mansard.

The Market Block possesses the most completely intact nineteenth century storefronts in the historic district. Oriented around recessed transomed doorways, the storefronts have large transomed display windows framed by cast-iron columns that support a continuous granite lintel. On the second story, the window openings are framed by granite lintels and sills. Above the second-story windows, a range of starred tie-rod anchors serves both decorative and structural functions; both starred and linear anchors appear on the east elevation.

45. former Central Fire Station (25 Elliot Street); 1873.
Also constructed in 1873, this two-story, flat-roofed, brick building was built as the second of three generations of Brattleboro fire stations that stand along Elliot Street (the other two being outside the historic district). The municipal fire department occupied this building until the construction in 1949 of the present fire station; subsequently it has been altered to contain a storefront and a second-story restaurant.

The main (south) facade retains its original appearance only on the second story, where brick piers bisect the four-bay wall surface into twin recessed panels surmounted by a scalloped, corbeled cornice; the round-headed six over-six sash are crowned by corbeled hood moldings. The west elevation of the building lacks both the ornamental cornice and the hood moldings, its four window openings having straight granite lintels and sills.

In contrast to the original fabric of the second story, the first story of the south front has lost its historic character. In several alterations since 1950, it has been extended forward to the street line and converted to a storefront with large display windows; during an earlier alteration, the original twin round-arched engine bays were enlarged to rectangular configuration. Another post-1950 alteration of the building involved the dismantling of the square hose-drying tower - lighted by an oculus on each face and crowned by a corbeled cornice - from the rear of the roof. Currently (1982) a substantial wood canopy and glass-enclosed greenhouse are being attached to the second story atop the extended storefront.

46. Fisher or Grange Block (49-55 Elliot Street); 1894, 1915.
The local Grange chapter constructed this substantial three-story, flat roofed, brick commercial block in 1894 for its Farmers' and Mechanics' Exchange, a wholesale and retail grocery business. Only the main (south) facade survived a fire in 1914; the remainder of the block was reconstructed the following year. Subsequently the building has retained essentially intact its post-fire appearance.

On the south facade, both upper stories are lighted by three triptych windows separated by single sash; all openings are enframed by stone sills and lintels, the latter interconnected by dogtooth beltcourses. The third story is distinguished by semicircular keystoned fanlights that crown the central panels of the triptych windows. A corbeled dogtooth cornice surmounts the facade and continues around its corners to a depth of one bay along each eleven-bay side (east and west) elevation, indicating the extent of the 1915 reconstruction. The first-story windows on the east elevation were opened during a recent refurbishment of the building.

The three storefronts retain most of their original fabric. Fluted cast iron pilasters flank each storefront while attenuated cast-iron columns provide intermediate support; these vertical members support a stamped metal denticulated storefront entablature that extends the width of the facade. The entablature remains unobstructed by signage, that being applied instead to the large display windows. Canvas awnings shade the display windows, partly concealing their blinded transoms.

47. Emerson Block (48-64 Elliot Street); circa 1890, 1914.
This flat-roofed brick commercial building consists of two attached blocks: a west block constructed circa 1890 and a similar east block constructed in 1914. The building rises five stories on the fully exposed south (rear) and west elevations, its foundation being on the level of Flat Street. The latter elevations retain their original appearance, having segmental-arched window openings with rock-faced sills, a modest corbeled roof cornice, and a full-height chimney engaged to the west elevation.

On the north facade of the building, only two stories are exposed to Elliot Street, and the wall planes of the east and west blocks meet at a slight angle. Brick pilasters enframe both wall planes, rising to support an overscaled denticulated entablature. In 1977, the entire second story of the facade was sheathed with redwood panels (although apparently without serious alteration of the original fabric), and the storefronts were altered in a uniform manner with modern plate glass and partial wood sheathing.

The original facade constituted the most significant architectural feature of the Emerson Block: both stories were sheathed with full-height glass, and the glass was employed by the unknown architect or builder in varying manners on each wall plane and story. The west plane's second story was the most extraordinary, consisting of three embayed Chicago windows separated only by attenuated pilasters. The same story of the east plane presented the contrast of flush panels of plate glass secured by slender mullions.

The first story differed less markedly from one plane to the other. On the west plane, the storefronts were enclosed by full-height plate glass with narrow street panels flanking broad angled panels leading to the deep recessed central doorways, the entire assembly being surmounted by an attenuated version of the roof entablature. The storefronts on the longer east plane possessed wider street panels and transom panels above all fixed glass; these storefronts were surmounted by a continuous sign band.

48. Commercial block (42-44 Elliot Street); circa 1880.
The three-story, four-bay main (north) facade of this flat-roofed brick commercial block ranks among the most nearly intact nineteenth century exteriors in the historic district. Articulated vertically by corner piers and a slightly projecting left bay (above the upper-story entrance), the upper-story wall surface is sheathed with pressed brick; the same material is used for the splayed rusticated window lintels and is complemented by brownstone sills interconnected by terra cotta panels. A prominent slotted corbeled cornice crowns the facade, its profile being achieved partly by molded brick; the cornice appears identical to that on the Hooker-Dunham Block (#17).

A heavy granite storefront lintel provides a strong horizontal division of the facade. The storefront consists largely of plate glass, its display windows flanking a recessed central entrance (all of whose transoms have been blinded); fluted cast-iron pilasters provide structural support. In the left bay, the transomed upper-story entrance is recessed between granite-based piers.

Like its neighbors along the south side ff Elliot Street, this building descends three additional stories on the rear to the level of Flat Street. Its relatively plain east and west flanks have segmental-arched window openings. A large polychrome billboard advertising a defunct patent medicine has been recently repainted on the upper east wall, contributing to the visual diversity of the streetscape.

49. Former Methodist Church (16-20 Elliot Street); 1880.
Another (see #30) High Victorian Gothic style church that has been vacated by its parish and deconsecrated, the former Methodist Church was designed by Warren Hayes - an architect from Elmira, New York - and completed in 1880. The rectangular one-story, brick church stands with its slate-shingled, gable roof oriented perpendicular to Elliot Street; its basement descends three stories to the level of Flat Street. The architect concentrated decoration on the richly detailed north gable front and its flanking towers, the principal multi-story bell tower at the northwest corner and a secondary entrance tower on the northeast corner.

The dominant feature of the church's design, the northwest tower displays an extraordinary array of ornamental details. The double-leaf main entrance occupies its base, set within the pointed-arch opening of a partly metal sheathed surround and flanked by corner buttresses. Above a raised belt course, a pair of slender round-headed windows is surmounted in turn by an oculus with a molded surround. The base stage then joins the diminished bell chamber, marked on each face by pointed-arch louvers set within a molded surround and crowned by a corbeled cornice. From flared eaves, the four-sided spire - shingled with polychrome patterned slate - tapers upward to a stylized cross of metal openwork.

The counterbalancing northeast tower rises only to the height of the building's ridgeline but it repeats on a smaller scale the form of the main tower. A secondary entrance occupies its buttressed base, and it culminates in a flared four-sided spire shingled in the manner of its larger counterpart. The interposed wall plane is dominated by a rose window, whose trefoil motif appears also in the underlying cluster of three etched lancet windows; smaller triplet round-headed windows occupy the gable, whose surface is embellished with niches and zig-zag brickwork.

In contrast to the north front, the east and west flanks of the building display little ornamentation; fenestration on each of their main and upper most basement stories consists of three pairs of trefoil-motif, pointed arch etched windows.

The exterior of the building remains unaltered except by weathering, being especially in need of repointing. The interior, however, lost most of its historic integrity circa 1970 when converted to a theatre. More recently, the building has been converted to commercial uses, and the interior has been subdivided longitudinally into parallel shops; only the entrance vestibule and the outside walls continue to evoke their ecclesiastical origin. A commercial display case has been recently attached to the north facade, repeating the forms of the lancet windows now shielded behind it.

50. [NO NUMBER 50 LISTED.]

51. Leonard Block (12-14 Elliot Street); 1882.
After the Revere House fire of 1877 cleared the site, this flat-roofed, brick commercial block was constructed in 1882 for DeWitt Leonard to contain his printing business. The building possesses a three-story, four-bay main (north) facade sheathed with pressed brick and trimmed with marble; its ornamentation shows the influence of the High Victorian Italianate style.

On the unaltered upper stories, the segmental-arched window openings display marble sills and stilted marble hood moldings highlighted in black except for the impost blocks and keystones. The spandrels are also high lighted with black striping. Corner piers rise from the corbeled storefront cornice to the massive stamped-metal modillion roof cornice; pressed brick quoins turn the corners onto the standard brick east and west elevations. The storefront has been completely altered (in 1961) with an angled display window.

51A. Office building (10 Elliot Street); 1958. One-story, flat roof, infill between buildings#51-52. Non-contributing owing to age.

52. Former Peoples' National Bank Block (2-6 Elliot Street); 1879-80.
A unique example of the Ruskinian Italian Gothic style applied to a commercial block, this three-story, flat-roofed, brick building occupies a focal position on the south corner of Elliot and Main Streets where the latter narrows abruptly and descends to Whetstone Brook. The block was constructed in 1879-80 for the Peoples' National Bank, replacing the Revere House (hotel) that had been destroyed by fire in 1877. The unknown architect created a boldly bichrome pattern of ornament with abundant white marble trim, and achieved a castellated effect in the overhanging arcaded cornice with corner turrets (now truncated).

The symmetrical main (north) facade comprises twin two-bay panels flanking a recessed central bay. On the twin panels, the third story openings contain slender coupled one-over-one sash enframed by marble lugsills and peaked marble lintels; the second-story openings have single one-over-one sash set within identical surrounds. Marble quoins articulate the corners of the panels, interrupted by a marble storefront cornice. Flanking the recessed upper-story entrance, the somewhat altered storefronts have recessed central entrances. The left storefront has had its entrance shifted from the left bay, losing in the process the two marble-banded piers that originally supported the openings; the right storefront retains nineteenth century attenuated cast-iron columns.

Although truncated from its original profile, the roof cornice remains an outstanding ornamental feature of the building, projecting its arcaded corbeled form above a marble beltcourse that delimits the wall plane. Stylized turrets interrupt the cornice above the corners of the north facade's wall panels, leaving a niche above the central bay. Originally the cornice carried several additional marble-trimmed courses and a parapet above the central bay, and the turrets rose higher than the cornice

The Main Street (east) facade reiterates the decoration of the north front on a single wall plane five bays in width. An additional horizontal articulation appears in the form of a marble beltcourse that emanates from the north facade's foundation and serves to delineate the basement, the latter increasingly exposed by the downward slope of the ground toward the south end of the block.

The People's National Bank was founded in 1875 by Jacob Estey (of the organ manufactory) and associates. The bank occupied this building for its headquarters until 1923 when it merged with the Vermont National Bank (#43) on the opposite corner of Elliot Street. Subsequently the building has been used for stores and offices.

53. Pentland Block (78-80 Main Street); 1877.
Constructed immediately after the 1877 fire, this three-story, flat-roofed brick block incorporates in its rear (west) elevation the rubble wall of the stone Dickinson Building, its predecessor on the site. The upper stories of the four-bay main (east) facade appear similar to the Crosby Block (#42), being subdivided by quoined brick piers into three-bay and one-bay panels. The piers support a paneled frieze below the scalloped corbeled cornice. The single storefront has been completely altered with modern plate glass.

54. Barber Building (62-76 Main Street and 5-7 Flat Street); 1915.
Ranking among the largest commercial blocks in Brattleboro, the Barber Building represents a blend of the Commercial and Second Renaissance Revival styles and was constructed in 1915. The five-story, flat-roofed, concrete-trimmed, brick block stands on the slope at the north corner of Main and Flat Streets, gaining an additional story on the latter (south) facade. Its main (east) facade extends through nine bays of coupled sash; on the upper stories, two-bay terminal pavilions project slightly forward of the wall plane, defined on the second through fourth stories by quoined concrete piers. The six-bay south facade is arranged similarly.

The dominant articulation of both street facades follows horizontal planes. A heavy precast concrete storefront cornice supported by rusticated concrete pilasters surmounts the somewhat altered Main Street storefronts and central upper-story entrance; the storefront cornice continues in the same plane across the Flat Street facade, above two stories of irregular fenestration. A lesser cornice terminates the wall planes atop the fourth story, above which the stucco-outlined bays of the fifth story form a broad band. A prominent stamped-metal roof cornice crowns the facades, itself surmounted by a brick parapet.

55. Commercial building (9 Flat Street); c.1870.
Three stories, flat roof, wood-framed; clapboarded on 12-bay east, west side elevations; original four-bay main (south) facade altered with extended plate-glass storefront and vertical wood sheathing blanking upper stories. Noncontributing owing to alteration of street facade.

56. Smith Building (17-19 Flat Street); c.1920.
This two-story, flat-roofed brick building was constructed circa 1920 for an automobile dealership. The south facade incorporates three large former vehicle entrances flanked by corner display windows, all headed by massive concrete lintels. The smaller second-story windows are grouped into bays defined by the brick piers rising from the ground story. The building has been adapted to other commercial uses, and the first-story opening have been mostly infilled with diagonal wood siding.

57. Commercial building (29 Flat Street); c.1870.
Two-and-one-half stories, wood-framed, clapboarded, gable roof, 6/6 sash; altered by modern flat-roofed extension of first story containing garage bays. Noncontributing owing to inappropriate enlargement.

58. former DeWitt Livery (31-35 Flat Street): c.1900.
Two stories, wood-framed, clapboarded, shallow-pitched gable roof, large sliding/hinged doors on south facade, 6/6 sash; former livery for DeWitt wholesale grocery firm in adjacent building #59.

59. DeWitt Block (43-47 Flat Street); c.1900.
This utilitarian four-story, seven-bay, flat-roofed brick block was constructed circa 1900 for DeWeese DeWitt's wholesale grocery warehouse. The original three lower stories are surmounted by a remnant of a roof cornice; the added fourth story carries its similar replacement. The segmental headed window openings have eight-over-eight sash (except in the partly exposed basement); the fourth-story openings lack the rock-faced granite sills of the lower stories. On the main (south) facade, twin side entrances flank central display windows. A large polychrome billboard has been recently painted on the blank rear half of the west elevation, advertising the automobile parts sold by the current occupants.

60. Mosher Block (Flat Street); 1914, 1938.
Another building used originally for automobile sales and servicing, the three-story, eighteen-bay, flat-roofed Mosher Block was constructed in 1914, Crowned by a molded wood cornice, its main (north) facade sheathed with yellow brick during a 1938 reconstruction. The segmental arched window openings on the upper stories have rock-faced granite sills. A row of five storefronts with transomed display windows now occupies the first story. A two-story, four-bay brick wing extends from the west elevation.

When the adjoining Latchis Hotel (#61) was constructed in 1936, part of the Mosher Block's interior was rebuilt to contain the auditorium of the Latchis Theatre, and the west wing was added to contain the stage. The theatre entrance passes through the hotel block from its Main Street facade.

61. Latchis Hotel (38-50 Main Street): 1936.
The only representative of the Modernistic style in the historic district, the four-story, flat-roofed Latchis Hotel was constructed in 1936 on the south corner of Main and Flat Streets. The upper stories of the hotel are sheathed with buff-hued precast concrete panels incorporating in low relief various ornamental details of classical derivation. Below a 'denticulated' cornice and sign band, the hotel lobby and flanking storefronts are sheathed with polished stone veneer.

Sheltered by a metal-sheathed marquee, the hotel's main entrance occupies the first story of the building's truncated northeast corner. Colossal fluted 'pilasters' ascend the upper stories of the single-bay corner wall plane, and culminate in foliated heads similar to the inter-story foliated spandrels. Like those on the flanking east and north facades, metal-framed compound windows occupy the upper-story openings. A low parapet surmounts the corner wall, interrupting a row of two-dimensional 'triglyphs' that crowns the tops of the adjoining facades.

Near the center of the seven-bay Main Street (east) facade, another marquee shelters the deeply recessed entrance to the Latchis Theatre (the body of which extends into the adjoining Mosher Block, #60). Another set of colossal fluted 'pilasters' enframes a two-bay panel above the theatre entrance, rising to foliated heads flanking the embossed name of the hotel and theatre. Transomed storefronts with recessed entrances flank the theatre front.

The similar Flat Street (north) facade extends eight bays, subdivided by piers into single- and double-hay panels. A secondary hotel entrance is located near the center of the Flat Street facade. Both the hotel and theatre remain in their original uses.

62. Wilder Building (30-36 Main Street): 1875.
The removal of two nearby commercial blocks has left the Wilder Building in the position of an architectural anchor at the south end of the Main Street commercial core. Standing next to Whetstone Brook, the four-story, flat roofed brick block was erected in 1875 for Chester L. Brown to contain his furniture and undertaking business. The building displays an eclectic array of polychrome ornamental details expressed in brick, stone, metal, and ceramics.

The main (east) facade of the Wilder Building extends eight bays in width on the pressed-brick third and fourth stories, subdivided by brick piers into two-bay panels. The window openings on those stories are trimmed with stone sills and segmental-arched (but flat-topped) lintels. A band of brightly hued ceramic tile decorates the spandrels between the same stories. The piers support a massive, elaborately detailed, metal roof cornice embossed with a scalloped lower edge, rosettes, and stylized brackets.

The first and second stories contrast sharply to the upper stories (and, for that matter, to any other facade in the historic district). Three intermediate cast-iron pilasters - made by the Atlantic Iron Works of New York - and granite corner pilasters distinguish the ground story, flanking the transomed display windows and recessed side entrances of the storefronts. The granite corner pilasters ascend the second story, whose wall surface is sheathed with stamped metal incorporating paneled spandrels and intermediate pilasters that extend upward from their cast-iron counterparts on the first story; the pilasters support a second-story metal cornice embossed with dentils and brackets. Triplet one-over-one sash with slender mullions occupy each of the four second-story panels.

The less ornate six-bay south elevation lacks the pilasters and piers, metal sheathing, and ceramic band of the east front; however, it displays identical upper-story window treatment and is crowned by a similar roof cornice. A first-story corner display window was added probably circa 1907. The fully exposed basement story next to Whetstone Brook is built of coursed, rock faced granite blocks.

Centered atop the roof of the building (and not readily visible from the street), a large three-bay square belvedere capped by a flat roof with projecting eaves overlooks the Whetstone Valley.

The original appearance of the Wilder Building differed most importantly in the nature of its fenestration. The first and second stories of the east front displayed the contemporary technological innovation of being enclosed entirely with plate glass. Between adjacent pilasters on the second story (probably extensions of the cast-iron pilasters below), two vertically elongated plates separated by a central mullion opened the full expanse of each bay; on the first story, such windows flanked the recessed entrances. The two stories were altered to their present appearance probably circa 1907 when Arthur B. Clapp bought the building and gave it its present name. Presumably at the same time, the originally blank corresponding stories on the south elevation were given their present fenestration.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Brattleboro Downtown Historic District coincides with an architecturally significant town center whose urban character remains extraordinary in Vermont, a state that ranks among the most rural in the nation. The predominantly commercial, civic, and religious buildings extant in the historic district represent a 140-year period of development that began circa 1840 in the Greek Revival style and continued through the Italianate Revival, High Victorian Italianate and Gothic, Second Empire, Commercial, and Modernistic styles to the present. Concurrently, Brattleboro advanced to its twentieth century position as the cultural, commercial, and industrial center of southeastern Vermont.

The majority of buildings in the historic district date from nineteenth century redevelopment; their design, materials, and workmanship continue to evoke strongly the architectural nature of that period during which a country village evolved into an accomplished town. An unusually small proportion of recent twentieth century intrusions detracts from that prevailing character.

Several prominent American architects and artists have been associated with Brattleboro. Two pairs of brothers - William Morris and Richard Morris Hunt, and Larkin G. (Jr.) and William Rutherford Mead - emerged from the town during the second quarter of the nineteenth century to achieve international stature in their respective disciplines. Another Vermont-born architect, Elbridge Boyden, became nationally recognized while practicing in Worcester, Massachusetts; three architectural landmarks in the historic district - the First Baptist Church (#34), the Brooks House (former hotel, #41), and the former All Souls Unitarian Church (#30) - comprise an important sample of his professional achievement.

Chartered in 1753 to William Brattle, Jr. and associates of Boston, the township originally named Brattleborough received its earliest concentrated settlement in the 1760's. The water power available at the cascades of Whetstone Brook just above its confluence with the Connecticut River attracted development to what became the East Village, the present town center. The first gristmill and sawmill were built there in 1762 and 1768, respectively, followed in 1771 by Stephen Greenleaf's store a short distance to the north along the present Main Street. In 1795, the hamlet acquired a public house on the site of the present Brooks House (#41), establishing an activity that continued there for more than 160 years.

The Connecticut River valley has long served as the traditional route of regional travel. In 1804, the first bridge across the river at Brattleboro was built to enable overland travel to Boston via turnpike across New Hampshire. However, the principal means of early nineteenth century transport remained the river, connecting Brattleboro with Hartford, Connecticut, and the Atlantic coast to the south. John Holbrook, a leading entrepreneur during the early decades of the village's existence, achieved financial success by running flatboats to Hartford and importing goods from the West Indies. The village boat landing was at the foot of Mill (later Arch) Street just north of the present railroad arch bridge (#2).

The year 1811 brought several events significant to Brattleboro's future. A paper mill was built along the Whetstone upstream of Main Street; a library association was formed; and John Holbrook sold his commercial enterprises to Francis Goodhue, probably the most energetic entrepreneur in early nineteenth century Brattleboro. The village was growing apace, and in 1816 a meetinghouse was raised on the Common (north of the historic district), with John Holbrook becoming its Deacon. The same year, the entrepreneurial Holbrook joined Joseph Fessenden to expand a multi-faceted business - paper making, printing, publishing, and book-binding - that would grow to become Brattleboro's leading industry in the twentieth century.

At the beginning of the next decade, in 1821, increasing financial activity led to the organization of the Bank of Brattleborough (predecessor of the Vermont National Bank, #43), and John Holbrook soon retired from his publishing business to become its president. By 1824, the East Village had grown to the extent that it "was said to be the richest village of its size in New England;"(1) most of the town's population of 2017 lived and worked in the village. One measure of Brattleboro's contemporary economy comes from the value of its inbound trade: "There were 'brought into town by boats and other conveyances during the year ending March 1, 1824, $96,963 of merchandise.-"(2) Francis Goodhue accounted for much of this activity, being involved in several different businesses and the construction of numerous buildings.

While the river remained Brattleboro's lifeline of freight transport, overland stage routes were being extended to each quadrant of the compass with Brattleboro at the crossroads. Four-horse coaches from Boston, Troy, New York, Hartford, and Hanover, New Hampshire converged each evening on the village's principal hostelry, Chase's Stage House (site of the Brooks House, #41) for supper and exchange of passengers. In 1830-31, an attempt was made to establish regular steamboat service to hasten travel on the river. A small steamer, the 'Barnet,' sailed upriver from Hartford past Brattleboro late in 1830 and other boats were tried in 1831; however, the venture soon proved both a practical and financial failure.

An ecclesiastical dispute within the Congregational Society (the sole religious body in the village) resulted in an 1831 schism. The dissidents formed a Unitarian Society and proceeded the same year to build the village's second church (but first on Main Street) on the site occupied later by that denomination's stone church (#30). The following year, another predecessor of a prominent existing building appeared when the village gained its first high school actually a private academy - near the north end of the rapidly developing Main Street. Near the other end of the street, a prominent Greek Revival style facade appeared circa 1833 when the tavern formerly used by Jolim Holbrook for a store was enlarged with a tetrastyle Doric portico; later called the American House, it was eventually replaced by the present American Building (#7).

The 1840's brought significant changes to the expanding village, and during that decade Brattleboro's population recorded its greatest increase - from 2623 in 1840 to 3816 in 1850. A second church came to Main Street in 1842 when the congregationalists moved their building from the Common to its present site (#23), that being more convenient to the southward-shifting center of population. Although houses were interspersed with commercial structures among the mostly wood-framed, gable-roofed buildings along Main Street, the trend toward commercial development accelerated during the decade and introduced a generation of multi-story brick commercial blocks, some of which have survived to the present.

Three excellent flat-roofed examples of that type - the Devens, Exchange, and Cutler Blocks (#9-11) - were erected in the early 1840's to constitute a sixteen-bay uniform facade on their upper stories. A short distance to the south stands an architectural anomaly constructed in 1850 for Anthony Van Doorn: a large Greek Revival style brick house (#5) oriented with a narrow eaves facade to the street and its expansive pedimented gable elevations facing adjacent buildings.

In the 1840's, a new enterprise was launched on Elliot Street (west of the historic district) that soon gave Brattleboro a national reputation as an extraordinarily attractive summer resort. Dr. Robert Wesselhoeft opened his establishment for hydropathic physical therapy in 1845 using the water from numerous pure springs along Whetstone Brook. The venture proved immediately successful; the following year, some 400 patients overflowed its facilities. The 'water-cure' attracted a wealthy and sophisticated clientele from throughout the country, especially Southerners who sought refuge from the heat and humidity of their regional climate. The influx of visitors contributed substantially to the village's commercial success.

The available means of travel to Brattleboro must have constrained somewhat the success of the Wesselhoeft establishment during its first four seasons. In February, 1849, however, the railroad era arrived in Brattleboro with the opening of the Vermont and Massachusetts line to the cities of the southern Connecticut Valley. The first depot - a plain wood-framed, gabled building - was constructed across the tracks to the south of the later Union Station (#1). The upsurge in travel by railroad undoubtedly caused the construction in the same year of the imposing Revere House, a Greek Revival style, three-and-one half story, brick hotel owned by James Fisk, Sr.; the hotel occupied the focal south corner of Main and Elliot Streets, site of the later People's National Bank (#52).

Two years later, Hugh Henry and associates opened their Vermont Valley Railroad northward along the Connecticut River to Bellows Falls, the regional hub of rail lines radiating to Boston, Rutland and Burlington, Vermont and ultimately Canada. River traffic dwindled immediately and the stagecoaches were relegated to off line routes. With the exception of a short-lived branch line along the West River valley to its northwest, Brattleboro's railroad connections were completed by the Connecticut Valley route.

Although the Wesselhoeft establishment declined after the death of its founder in 1852, other water-cures were started during the 1850's in anticipation of similar success, particularly given the greatly improved accessibility of the town. Owing to changing fashion and the outbreak of the Civil War, however, that success proved elusive and the business faded. Certain of Brattleboro's manufacturing industries, on the other hand, thrived after gaining rail service; in the case of Hines, Newman and Company, producers of paper-making machinery located at the Whetstone cascades, the firm proceeded to ship its equipment to paper mills throughout North America.

The water-cures attracted to Brattleboro many prominent figures in literature and the arts but they were not without resident counterparts. The offspring of two local families, the Hunts and the Meads, born during the second quarter of the century became internationally renowned: the artist William Morris Hunt (1824-1879), his architect brother Richard Morris Hunt (1828-1895), the sculptor Larkin G. Mead, Jr. (1835-1879), and his architect brother William Rutherford Mead (1846-1927). Early in their careers, both Hunts and Larkin Mead practiced briefly in their home town but little evidence remains of that activity.

In 1854, the Episcopal parish of St. Michael's contributed to Main Street a modest bell-cote, half-timbered and brick church on the site of the present building #22; Richard Morris Hunt is reputed to have designed St. Michael's after a small country church that he had seen in England. The following year on the adjoining lot to the south (and across the street from the Hunt homestead), Brattleboro's Town Hall was constructed in a restrained Italianate Revival style distinguished by round-headed tracery windows (later replaced by building #21). During 1856, both William Morris Hunt and Larkin G. Mead used studios in the building, the latter also conducting a drawing school. Mead achieved almost instant national recognition for an unusual piece of sculpture created on a Brattleboro street during the night of New Year's Eve, 1856: the 'Snow Angel' executed in ice at the north end of Main Street, its site later commemorated by the Wells Fountain (#26).

South of the Town Hall along the east side of Main Street, additional brick commercial blocks replaced wood-framed buildings during this period. The earlier examples with plain facades, e.g., the Perry and Ranger Blocks (#14-15), were soon outshone by the polychrome stone-sheathed Granite Block (#13) and the Italianate Revival style Union Block (#12). Especially the latter pair reflected the rising commercial prosperity of the village.

Meanwhile, at the foot of Main Street, a business had been started that would expand through several locations into the most important industry in Brattleboro history. In 1852, Jacob Estey bought an interest in a small company making melodeons; after various shifts in ownership, the firm of J. Estey and Company emerged in 1866 with Estey in control. Within two decades, the Estey Organ Company became the largest organ manufacturer in the United States and shipped its instruments throughout the world. (See the National Register nomination of the Estey Organ Company Factory, entered in the Register on April 17, 1980.)

Late in the 1860's, there began a period of dramatic redevelopment along Main Street from which emerged much of the streetscape's present appearance. The First Baptist Society initiated construction in 1867 of their Gothic Revival style church (#34) designed by the Vermont-born (in Somerset to the west of Brattleboro) architect Elbridge Boyden practicing in Worcester, Massachusetts. A contemporary local historian judged the completed edifice "the most costly and elegant specimen of church architecture this side of Rutland, if not in the State."(3) While the Portland stone-trimmed brickwork of the church was being carried upward, a savings bank erected in 1869 a little to the south on the opposite (east) side of the street the most elaborately decorated commercial facade ever to appear in Brattleboro: a High Victorian Italianate style building (#18) that would lose its facade to a 1935 reconstruction.

A pair of disasters struck the village in October, 1869, forcing extensive redevelopment of the affected areas. The most destructive flooding in Brattleboro's history occurred on the fourth of that month when a flash flood along Whetstone Brook caused $300,000 damage. Among the destroyed buildings, bridges, and dams were various structures along Flat and lower Main Streets.

Nevertheless, the flood proved less destructive within the limits of the historic district than the Great Fire that followed it on the last day of the month. The fire ravaged the entire west side of Main Street between Elliot and High Streets, being stopped on the latter street at the Masonic Hall afterward occupied by the Retting furniture store (#40). The fire destroyed principally the three-and-one-half story, wood-framed Brattleboro House (formerly Chase's Stage House), and the two-and-one-half story, brick Blake Block on the corner of Elliot Street, an originally (1808) Federal style house that had been converted circa 1853 to commercial use with a cast-iron shopfront extension and Italianate details.

A leading local entrepreneur, Edward Crosby, whose grain and feed business extended throughout northern New England, took the initiative of redevelopment. In 1870-71, his elongated brick commercial block (#42) was constructed to stretch twenty-six bays northward along Main Street from the Elliot Street corner - the longest uniform facade of its type ever built in Brattleboro.

The following year, however, Crosby's effort was surpassed by that of George Jones Brooks, whose fortune gained from a San Francisco paper business was applied to the construction of the finest hotel in northern New England. For its design, Brooks employed Elbridge Boyden, who had just completed the First Baptist Church (#34) within sight of the hotel. Boyden used the eminently suitable (and fashionable) Second Empire style for the massive brick Brooks House (#41); its Main Street facade extends some twenty-four bays and rises in part a story plus the dormered mansard above the adjoining three-story Crosby Block, while the secondary High Street facade extends about two-thirds that length. (See the National Register nomination for the Brooks House, entered in the Register on February 1, 1980.)

The Elliot Street end of the burned area received its new buildings in 1873. Edward- Crosby continued his development efforts with the Market Block (#44) next to the Crosby Block. On the next lot to the west, the Town of Brattleboro erected an Italianate Revival style Central Fire Station (#45).

The following year, the All Souls Unitarian parish retained Elbridge Boyden to design their new church within sight of his two previous projects along Main Street. Boyden created his local masterpiece for the Unitarians in a richly decorated polychrome masonry expression of the High Victorian Gothic style (#30). The completion of the church in 1875 was accompanied by the construction of a commercial landmark at the south end of Main Street: Chester L. Brown's remarkable block (#62), whose first and second stories displayed an unprecedented (in Vermont) expanse of plate glass "in full view of all passers by railroad. [The contemporary business directory continues] Mr. Brown's unique arrangement of goods in his spacious glass front has proved so successful as an advertising medium that the plan has been copied in other sections of the country."(4)

Despite the proximity of the new fire station. another conflagration struck Brattleboro's commercial center in 1877. The fire started in the Revere House stables diagonally across the street from the fire station and swept eastward through the hotel on the corner of Main Street. Once again, redevelopment proceeded apace, in this case undertaken by Jacob Estey and associates: their People's National Bank Block (#52) was erected in 1879-80, introducing to Brattleboro a distinctive commercial adaptation of the Ruskinian Italian Gothic style. The developers then sold the contiguous Elliot Street lots to DeWitt Leonard and the Methodist Society. The Methodists completed also in 1880 a High Victorian Gothic style church (#50) designed by an Elmira, New York architect, Warren Hayes (and the last church built within the historic district). Leonard followed in 1882 with a High Victorian Italianate block (#51) for his expanding printing business.

The increasing economic stature of Brattleboro was reflected in the 1881 construction of a more appropriate railroad depot, a rather ornate Italianate Revival style brick building with an attached platform shed that could shelter a train under the curvilinear roof of its north end. Another railroad improvement occurred in 1878 when the covered wood bridge over Whetstone Brook was replaced with the present incombustible stone arch, #2 - then called 'S. M. Waite's monument' after the local businessman leading the contemporary reorganization of the Vermont Valley Railroad company.

Redevelopment continued along Main Street during the 1880's with larger, more elaborate brick buildings replacing their early nineteenth century, wood-framed counterparts. In 1884, two substantial commercial blocks were added to the east side of the street by William Ryther (#16) and George W. Hooker (#17), providing counterbalance to the opposite Brooks House. The hip-roofed Brattleboro High School (#27) was completed the same year on a knoll overlooking the north end of the street. Another civic improvement appeared on upper Main Street in 1886 after George J. Brooks commissioned Brattleboro's first public library building; the original Brooks Memorial Library introduced the Richardsonian Romanesque style to Brattleboro in the last year of life of both the town's benefactor and the architectural style's creator. To close the decade, the Estey family whose organ business had expanded sufficiently to claim being the largest in the world - made possible a substantial enlargement of the First Baptist Church, the plans for which were drawn by Charles Wentworth in the late Gothic Revival manner championed by partner Ralph Adams Cram. (Coincidentally, a later partner of Cram, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, descended from the Goodhue family prominent in Brattleboro's early development.)

At the beginning of the century's last decade, a symbol of civic benefaction was installed at the head of Main Street. Edwin P. and Alice P. Carpenter, whose elaborate Italianate villa crowned the knoll at the intersection of Linden Street and Putney Road, gave a plot "for a water fountain of artistic design or some other work of art which shall beautify and adorn said plot and remain an ornament to the said village and evidence of the good taste of its inhabitants . . ."(5) William Henry Wells commissioned the water fountain, and William Rutherford Mead designed it in an elemental Neo-Classical Revival manner. Marking the site of Larkin Mead's 'Snow Angel,' the Wells Fountain (#26) stands also as an appropriate home-town monument to the partner of the McKim, Mead, and White architectural firm.

A dispute erupted a few years later that gave exercise to the aesthetic sentiment expressed in the Carpenters' statement. Then-resident Rudyard Kipling joined the opposition to a planned trolley line, declaring that it wouId destroy "the beauty for which Brattleboro is so justly famous."(6) Finally overriding such opposition, Edward C. Crosby (son of the Crosby mentioned above) and M. A. Coolidge proceeded in 1895 with construction of the Brattleboro Street Railroad, bringing urban transit to Main Street. In contrast, an indication of the town's rural setting appeared the same year on Elliot Street when the local Grange chapter erected its new Farmers' and Mechanics' Exchange block (#46). Nevertheless the urban influence predominated; in 1895-96, the Town Hall was enlarged to contain the elaborately decorated Auditorium modeled on New York's old Abbey Theater, and many famous metropolitan stage companies performed there until displaced by movies.

Around the turn of the present century, the last generation of mixed-use, multi-story commercial blocks emerged in the historic district, displaying characteristics of the contemporary Commercial style. The imposing American Building (#7) with its end-bay Chicago windows constitutes the finest example along Main Street; it was constructed in 1906 and named for the Greek Revival style hotel that it displaced. A more dramatic application of Chicago windows and plate-glass sheathing occurred a few years later in the Emerson Block (#47) on Elliot Street; in that case, embayed Chicago windows and plate glass were used to enclose the entire facade. Ironically, at about the same time, the pioneer example of plate-glass sheathing, the 1875 Wilder Building (#62), lost its second-story expanse in favor of the present fenestration.

The population of Brattleboro township surged from 6640 in 1900 to 7541 in 1910, significantly exceeding rival Rockingham (Bellows Falls) to the north along the Connecticut River, and during that decade, Brattleboro achieved its twentieth century position as the dominant cultural, commercial, and industrial center of southeast Vermont. Reflecting the town's increasing importance, a series of more elaborate public buildings began to appear in 1912 with an enlargement of the Brooks Memorial Library. The following year, the Boston and Main Railroad and the Central Vermont Railway finally resolved their longstanding dispute about facilities and service at Brattleboro (where their lines connect), and proceeded in 1915 to construct the stone Union Station (#l) on the embankment from which had been excavated some of the rock fill used to build the new second track northward. (See the National Register nomination for Union Station, entered in the Register on June 7, 1974.) Construction began the same year on the imposing U.S. Post Office and Court House (#32), an adaptation in brick of the Second Renaissance Revival style designed under the architectural supervision of Oscar Wenderoth. The Federal Building was completed in 1917; five years later, the counterbalancing Brattleboro Armory (#25) was erected directly across Main Street.

At this stage, the upper Main streetscape reached the aesthetic zenith of its twentieth century appearance. The distinguished religious and public buildings were interspersed with substantial residences, the building were complemented by landscaped grounds, and mature American elms formed a graceful arcade over the street itself. Kipling's nemesis, the street railway, was removed in 1923 but the increasing numbers of motor vehicles were about to cause much more serious disruption of the beauty that he lauded.

Transformation of the upper Main streetscape began in 1929. The stately Federal style Hunt family homestead at the corner of High Street was demolished and replaced by the Montgomery Ward block and attached neighbor (#35-36), the former being a stock example of polychrome Art Nouveau storefront design that appeared contemporaneously in several Vermont towns. The Ward block was placed at the street line in contrast to the prevailing setback, and its body was oriented at an acute angle to follow within a few feet the south elevation of the adjacent First Baptist Church (#34), thereby effectively concealing that flank of the church. At the same time, the street was widened to accommodate the increasing motor vehicle traffic, destroying in the process the entire row of shade trees along its west margin.

During the 1930's, two significant nineteenth century blocks diagonally opposite the Ward block lost their original facades. The High Victorian Italianate front of the Vermont Savings Bank block (#18) was stripped in favor of a pastiche of Neo-Colonial details, and the earlier stone facade of building #20 was sheathed with enameled metal panels to give the illusion of a modern Paramount (movie) Theatre. At the head of Main Street, the Carpenters' Italianate villa was demolished and replaced on its south grounds by a gas station, whose intrusion behind the Wells Fountain (#26) belies the "evidence of good taste" that prompted its erection. A positive development in 1939 at the other end of Main Street give Brattleboro another hotel, the Latchis (#61) - a combination of Modernistic style and precast concrete sheathing unique in the historic district.

While construction of the Latchis Hotel essentially concluded development of Brattleboro's commercial center, the character of Main Street's north half has continued to change. An event traumatic to the community occurred in 1953 when the Town Hall was sold for demolition; actually the shell of its first story was spared and converted to the present one-story commercial building on the site, #21. During that project, the adjacent St. Michael's Episcopal Church was moved to a new site north of the historic district. A decade later, in 1967, Brattleboro lost another outstanding civic building: the Brooks Memorial Library was demolished to provide a parking lot for the adjacent Federal Building (#32), and the library collections were shifted to the present building, #28. Recently, two office blocks (#22 and 24) have been constructed along the east side of the street, continuing the trend toward commercial redevelopment.

The recent buildings mentioned above (#22, 24, and 28) relate by materials and scale to their historic counterparts, and represent the contemporary phase of an architectural continuity. A few other recent buildings, in contrast, differ markedly and constitute intrusions into the historic fabric of the town center. These include a one-story storefront (#19) that punctures the multi-story commercial row along the east side of Main Street; the one-story chain doughnut shop (#37) set back from the north corner of High and Main Streets, presenting a stark contrast to the Brooks House (#41) on the opposite corner; and a one story, gable-roofed storefront (#49) interjected among the predominant multi story, flat-roofed commercial blocks of Elliot Street. At the present, the limited number of such intrusions exerts only a minor effect on the overall integrity of Brattleboro's historic environment.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) Mary Rogers Cabot. Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895 (Brattleboro, Vt., 1922), p. 370.
(2) Cabot, p.371.
(3) Henry Burnham, Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont (Brattleboro, Vt., 1880), p.30.
(4) Hamilton Child, Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vt., 1724-1884 (Syracuse, N.Y., 1884), p.96.
(5) Cabot, p.905.
(6) Harold A. Barry et al., Before Our Time (Brattleboro, Vt.: The Stephen Greene Press, 1974), p.71.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

1. Barry, Harold A., Michelman, Richard E., Mitchell, Richard M., and Wellman, Richard H. Before Our Time: A Pictorial Memoir of Brattleboro, Vermont from 1830 to 1930. Brattleboro, Vt.: The Stephen Greene Press, 1974.

2. Beers, F.W. Atlas of Windham County, Vermont. New York, 1899.

3. Map of Brattleboro (Scale 1"=250'). New York: D.L. Miller and Co., 1895.

4. Burnham, Henry. "Brattleboro." in Hemenway, Abby Maria, ed. Vermont Historical Gazetteer (Vol. 5). Brandon, Vt., 1891.

5. Burnham, Henry. Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont. Brattleboro, Vt.: D. Leonard, 1880.

6. Cabot, Mary Rogers. Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895(2 vols.). Brattleboro, Vt.: Press of E.L. Hildreth and Co., 1922.

7. Child, Hamilton. Gazetteer and Business Directory of Windham County, Vt., 1724 1884. Syracuse, N.Y., 1884.

8. Crane, Charles Edward, ed. With Interest (9 vols.). Brattleboro, Vt.: Vermont-Peoples National Bank of Brattleboro, 1922-32.

9. First Baptist Church of Brattleboro - 100th Anniversary. Brattleboro, Vt (?),1940.

10. Houpis, John N., Jr. Brattleboro: Selected Historical Vignettes. Brattleboro, Vt.: Brattleboro Publishing Co., Ltd., 1973.

11. Kristensen, John. The Brooks House Hotel and the All Souls Church; Brattleboro, Vermont. Unpublished student paper for Design and Conservation course, Cornell University, Fall 1972. (Available at Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro, Vermont.)

12. Richard M. Mitchell, Hinsdale, New Hampshire (co-author of Before Our Time) Interviewed by Hugh Henry on December 10, 1981.

13. Pomeroy, Frank T., ed. Picturesque Brattleboro. Northampton, Mass.: Picturesque Publishing Co., 1894.

14. A Walking Tour of Medieval Brattleboro (brochure). Brattleboro, Vt.: Arts Council of Windham County, 1981.

FORM PREPARED BY: Hugh H. Henry, Historic Preservation Consultant, Green Mountain Turnpike, Chester, VT 05143. Tel: 802-875-3379. Date: April 26, 1982.

DATE ENTERED: February 17,1983.
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