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These districts and properties are locally designated and enjoy a high degree of protection. Once designated, no alterations can be made to the exterior without first applying for a “Certificate of Appropriateness” from the Historic District Commission. There are two Local Historic Districts in Greenwich, Strickland Road Historic District at Strickland Road and Mill Pond Court in Cos Cob (established in 1975), and the Round Hill Historic District located at the intersection of Round Hill Road and John Street (established in 1988), and two local historic properties, 29 Taconic Road and 640 Round Hill Road.
Round Hill Historic District
The Round Hill Historic District, located at the intersection of John Street and Round Hill Road, which are among the first roads to have been laid out in the ‘back country”. Today, the roads are important arteries to the town and include a number of important buildings of historic and/or architectural merit. The district was settled in the first half of the 18th century and is a clearly defined area of 7.25 acres.
The Round Hill Historic District, located at the intersection of John Street and Round Hill Road, which are among the first roads to have been laid out in the ‘back country”. Today, the roads are important arteries to the town and include a number of important buildings of historic and/or architectural merit. The district was settled in the first half of the 18th century and is a clearly defined area of 7.25 acres.
The district was part of the farming community which is known to have existed in the North West of Greenwich around 1725. A school district was established in the area in 1750. The district constitutes a small group of buildings, in a compatible setting, which taken as a whole expresses modes of living of earlier periods.
In the 18th century, the area was an important producer of potatoes and fruit (apples particularly) which were then transported to the principal Greenwich harbors (Mianus, Cos Cob, Rocky Neck) for transshipment to New York. This district complements the town’s other local historic district by offering a reference to the area which grew the produce (Round Hill Road/John Street) to the commercial district from which it was shipped to New York (Strickland Road Historic District).
Stanwich Historic District
The Stanwich Historic District is situated in the northeast section of Greenwich in an area known since 1731 as Stanwich and located on both sides of Taconic Road. The neighborhood dates back to 1731 when a group of Greenwich and Stamford residents petitioned the General Assembly for permission to establish a new parish. The church that was formed was the Stanwich Congregational Church. Over the ensuing years Stanwich grew and diversified. In 1753 Stanwich petitioned to be a separate school district; in 1789 the Stanwich School was joined by a private school for boys, the Stanwich Academy; in 1802, the incorporation of the Turnpike Company linking Greenwich to Ridgefield had its route going through Stanwich; and by 1856, the area boasted a post office, store, shoe manufactory and tailor’s shop. Just over a decade later, a local map shows changes to the area -- the shoe manufactory, the Stanwich Academy, and the tailor’s shop have gone. During the period from the Civil War through the end of the nineteenth century little seems to have changed along Taconic Road. In 1923 the Stanwich Congregational Church burned to the ground after being struck by lightning. When the building was destroyed, the congregation persevered. They moved down the street to the former Methodist Church which they had acquired and been using as a Sunday School. Today, while the religious, public and commercial activities along the stretch of Taconic Road have changed over the past two centuries, the historic buildings along the street serve as a reminder of the area’s past.
Strickland Road Historic District
The Strickland Road Historic District is a small residential area in the Cos Cob section of the Town of Greenwich. Located between the Boston Post Road (U.S. Route 1) on the north and Interstate 95 on the south, the majority of residences are on Strickland Road with a few related properties on the adjacent Loughlin Avenue.
Strickland Road was laid out from the Post Road to Cos Cob Harbor at least by the early 18th century. The path and width of this road to the Lower Landing, as the area was called at that time, has not changed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, community activity centered around the Strickland Road area. The first school dates from 1756. A shipyard was built there in 1848. Schooners and sloops moved flour, potatoes and other produce to New York. The group of houses within the district visually expresses modes of living representative of the early American and Victorian periods. Bush-Holley House, located at, 39 Strickland Road, was built circa 1730 and was later known as the Holley Inn, home of the first art colony in Connecticut, where writers, artists and publishers gathered between 1890 and 1920. Today, it is the only desgnated National Historic Landmark in the Town of Greenwich, and one of a group of about 300 national landmarks in the country.
Local Historic Properties
THE JEREMIAH MEAD HOUSE , 1751 and 1929
The Jeremiah Mead House is a long rambling 2½-story structure built in several stages. The central section is the oldest, built in 1751.
The front room is in the most original condition, featuring original floors, hand-hewn beams, hand-made latches, wrought-iron nails, and the original fireplace. The paneling was made of wood from a mill which formerly stood on the property.
The attic features several old beams and rafters which are pegged.
The northern section was probably built in the nineteenth century, but the fireplace mantel, paneling, and doors of the dining room were originally part of an earlier house in Torrington, Connecticut.
The multi-winged southern section, including the present main entrance, was built in 1929.
THE CHARLES GREEN HOUSE, c.1742
In March of 1741 Charles Green bought 28 acres of land on the state line. The property was re-surveyed with a house on it in 1770. The large hand hewn beams and posts point to the earliest date possible.
Among the noteworthy architectural features of your property these are particularly significant:
House
Barn
- This is also original with beautiful posts, pegged beams and wide beam floors. There is no ridge pole.
Pool House
- This was originally a stone ice house.
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