{"nrhp_refnum":"73001230","name":"Rutger-Steuben Park Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Taylor and Howard Aves. including both sides of Rutger Ave. and Steuben Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Utica","county":"Oneida County","state":"NY","lat":43.093839095500044,"lon":-75.89265152340043,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-09-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential historic district in Utica, Oneida County, New York, made up of late nineteenth-century mansions along Rutger Street from Steuben Park east to Taylor Avenue and Second Street, plus nine properties facing Steuben Park and two on side streets.","why_significant":"The district holds one of the largest groupings of Italianate villas in the northeast, and it remains remarkably intact. The mansions reflect Utica's prosperity from 1830 to 1890, when textile mills and the Erie and Chenango canals drove growth. Original owners were important merchants and industrialists of central New York.","narrative":"Rutger Street in Utica climbs the hillside south of the Mohawk River flats, and along it and around Steuben Park stands one of the largest groupings of Italianate villas in the northeast. The first house, built in 1830 by Rutger Miller from plans by Philip Hooker, was nicknamed \"Miller's Folly\" because it sat so far above the town. Later mansions were built for the merchants and industrialists who prospered as textile mills and the Erie and Chenango canals made Utica a leading knit goods center. At the heart of the district, five exceptional houses form the private Rutger Park. They include a villa drawn from an A. J. Downing design, one inspired by a trip to Italy, one by Alexander Jackson Davis, and one with Romanesque influence. Descendants of the first owners moved to the suburbs, and the houses became apartments, offices and headquarters. Few alterations and no modern intrusions keep the area's character largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1830-1890","architect_builder":"Philip Hooker (plans for the first house, 1830); Alexander Jackson Davis (designed one villa in Rutger Park)","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mansions have changed from private homes to apartments, offices and institutional headquarters; some are decayed while others are well maintained. A 1980 letter reports 221 Rutger Street was being demolished.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.541164-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/73001230.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320247","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutger%E2%80%93Steuben_Park_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7382774"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oneida-county/rutger-steuben-park-historic-district-73001230/"}