Churchill Park Historic District

Churchill Park is a 100-acre neighborhood on the western side of Stamford, in the Catskill Mountains, laid out and landscaped in 1895 by Dr. Stephen Churchill. It includes two man-made lakes, tree-lined streets and open fields that once formed part of a golf course. Fifty-four mostly wood-frame structures, built largely between 1870 and 1920 as summer homes, hotels and boarding houses, show designs apparently drawn from pattern books. Styles range from Queen Anne, Stick and Eastlake to Shingle, Colonial Revival and Bungalow. The oldest house, on Lake Street, dates to about 1818. The centerpiece is the Rexmere, a Second Empire hotel of 1898 designed by Churchill. From 1884 until 1935 Stamford was among the most popular summer resorts in the Catskills, and Churchill's park and hotel were central to that trade. Tourism declined after World War II, and the area is now a quiet year-round residential neighborhood that retains well-preserved late Victorian architecture.