Woodland Street Historic District

Woodland Street in Worcester holds a district of 19 buildings, mostly houses, built between about 1868 and 1904. Development began in the late 1860s, when seven houses, most on double lots, went up on the west side of the street between 1868 and 1881. These include Second Empire and Victorian Gothic designs. The John Hill House of 1876 has an unusual L-shaped plan, with its entry set at a 45-degree angle where the two wings meet. By the 1890s the street was surrounded by residential neighborhoods, and rising land values led to denser building. Older double lots were subdivided and new Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses were added, along with All Souls' Universalist Church of about 1891. The Frank Heath House of about 1904 is a fine Colonial Revival example with Palladian windows and Ionic porches. The district was selected because it keeps a largely unaltered section of Victorian housing that shows how the street grew over several decades. Today the buildings are in residential and university use.