William Street Historic District

William Street Historic District is a hillside neighborhood of fifty-six properties in Tisbury, overlooking Vineyard Haven Harbor and the town center on Martha's Vineyard. Mostly residential, it also contains churches, the Town Hall, a Masonic lodge, a museum and an old burying ground. Thirty-six buildings are Greek Revival houses built between 1833 and 1858, during three planned developments that began with Thomas Bradley's Model Village. A few earlier houses, including one from 1720, and later Italianate, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival and Shingle Style buildings fit comfortably alongside them. Narrow streets, picket and cast iron fences and street trees preserve the mid nineteenth century character. The district was listed because it is the most intact group of Greek Revival buildings in Tisbury, many surviving the 1883 fire that destroyed much of the town. It also represents an early planned residential development financed by the island's maritime economy, and shows fine proportion and craftsmanship.