Main Mall Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Nine commercial buildings on Poughkeepsie's Main Mall and Garden Street form a row built largely after an 1870 fire destroyed the earlier frame structures on the block. The three- and four-story brick and stone buildings, dating from about 1871 to 1874, feature bold bracketed cornices, paneled friezes, arcaded facades and heavily molded lintels. One building at 315 Main Mall has an ornate pressed tin facade. Most ground-floor store fronts have been modernized, but the original cast iron store fronts at 3-9 Garden Street remain, and none of the buildings is considered non-contributing. The row was recognized as the most architecturally significant group of commercial structures on Main Street and in the city. Its Victorian Renaissance buildings share similar yet distinct decorative details and show the skill and ambition of the merchants who built them. Main Street has long been the city's chief commercial and east-west route, and this block sits one block east of Market Street.