Church Street Historic District

Church Street in Ware Village forms the spine of a residential district of 73 inventoried properties between Park Avenue and Highland Street, with a few adjacent cross-street lots and the open land of Greenville Park. Nearly all buildings are houses, and the only exceptions are a church, a school and the park. Almost all are wood-frame; the Larmarine double-house and the former Ware High School are the exceptions. The lower blocks near Main Street developed first, mostly in the 1840s to 1860s, and show strong Greek Revival character. The upper blocks were built up from the late 1880s through the early 1900s and are dominated by the Queen Anne style. Many town-lot barns and carriage houses survive, several of them elaborated in Queen Anne manner. The tree-lined street has an almost boulevard quality. The district includes workers' tenements, merchants' and physicians' homes, and the 1925 Colonial Revival East Congregational Church. Seventy of the properties contribute to the district's character.