Ashtabula Harbour Commercial District

Along West 5th Street in Ashtabula Harbour, about two miles north of the main center of Ashtabula, a block and a half of commercial storefronts recalls the town's days as a busy lake port. Most buildings are brick, with a few wood-frame ones, and they show High Victorian Italianate and late nineteenth century commercial styling, including bracketed or corbelled cornices, some round-arched openings, and touches of Eastlake and Queen Anne detail. A Neo-Classical Revival bank stands at the Hulbert Street corner. Ashtabula Harbour was a separate village until the mid-1870s, and its harbor was used as early as 1801. Much of this district was built between the end of the Civil War and 1878, and building continued until shortly after 1900. The street was long known as Bridge Street because it leads to the drawbridge at the river mouth. Although some lots are empty and many storefronts have been altered, the varied materials, colors and changes in elevation preserve a nineteenth century character.