| Blackstone Boulevard Realty Plat Historic District | |
| Nrhp Type: | hd |
| Nocat: | yes |
| Location: | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Built: | 1923 |
| Architect: | Martin, Marshall B.; Aldrich, William T., et al. |
| Architecture: | Late 19th- and 20th-century revivals |
| Added: | June 9, 1995 |
| Refnum: | 95000711 |
The Blackstone Boulevard Realty Plat Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Blackstone Blvd., Rochambeau Ave., Holly St. and Elmgrove Ave. in Providence, Rhode Island.[1]
The district features architecture by Marshall B. Martin, William T. Aldrich and other structures of late 19th- and 20th-century colonial revivals. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The Blackstone Boulevard Realty Plat Historic District is an approximately 40acres suburban residential neighborhood in the northeast corner of Providence. Within it are over 100 large, high-style houses on ample, meticulously landscaped lots that line wide, tree-lined streets, now as during the period of significance. Integrity of both individual properties and of the district as a whole remains extremely high.
The Blackstone Boulevard Realty Plat constitutes a distinguished collection of stylish early and mid-20th-century revival style dwellings as well as a representation of later contemporary styles-all designed and built by some of the locality's foremost architects and builders.
Within the district's roughly trapezoidal area the streets generally follow a grid pattern. It is bordered on the east by Blackstone Boulevard, a broad north-south thoroughfare with two roadways separated by a landscaped esplanade, and on the south by Rochambeau Avenue. Holly Street and Elmgrove Avenue, both running generally north-south, lie just within the district's western boundary. Elmgrove Avenue continues in a gentle "S" curve to join Blackstone Boulevard at the district's northern boundary. Cole Avenue, a straight north-south street parallel to Elingrove Avenue and Blackstone Boulevard, links Rochambeau to Elmgrove and serves as the spine for four perpendicular cross-streets: Intervale, Westford, Wingate, and Harwich Roads. Balton Road completes the grid, running north-south between Rochambeau and Intervale.
Houses in the district are located on large, wide lots that are 8,000, 10,000, or 12,000 square feet. A number of lots exceed even this generous size, and two large lots at the southern end measure 1.75 and 3.59 acres. At the time the plat was developed, the standard Providence house lot was 4,000 to 5,000 square feet. The use of deed restrictions in the design of the dwellings and in their placement within the lot affected the visual quality of the Blackstone Boulevard Realty Plat. Deed restrictions governed minimum lot size, minimum setback, distance between neighboring houses, and garage placement. With the exception of the two large lots, houses within the district are set back a uniform distance of twenty feet from the street.
Most dwellings in the plat were built in the late 1920s or early 1930s. They are typically clapboard, brick, brick-veneer, or stucco covered wood-frame construction, executed in revival styles fashionable in the early and mid-20th century. Neo-Georgian and Tudor/Old English Cottage are the most prevalent, followed by Mediterranean, Norman/French Provincial, and a number of stylistic hybrids. Most properties have a garage, either incorporated into the house more frequent in later construction or built separately near the rear of the lot. The free standing garages are often in the style of their houses.
Individual lots are well-and often lavishly-landscaped. Meticulous planning and maintenance have produced yards with immaculately clipped and edged green lawns punctuated with trees, shrubs, and beds of a wide variety of native and exotic plants.
The integrity of the district is excellent. All buildings have been well maintained. Additions and alterations generally respect the character of original construction. Unsympathetic renovations are few, and generally limited to occasional replacement of original wood siding with aluminum or vinyl-but, without removing trim-and inappropriate replacement windows-usually thermal-pane sash with imitation muntins.
Because development within the district did not fill the area before construction ceased during World War II, there are some twenty houses dating from 1946 to the present. New buildings are commensurate in quality with those associated with the period of significance but fall outside the fifty-year eligibility guideline of the National Register. These dwellings, fine examples of 20th-century domestic architecture in their own right, have been included in the inventory of the district as non-contributing buildings. They should be reevaluated in the future for their contribution to the significance of the district.
Garage before 1936: A single-bay, structure located behind the house, not visible from the street.
Garage 1925 : A two-car, one-bay, gable-roofed, weatherboard sheathed structure built contemporaneously with the house.