Sixth Street Historic District
Why it's listed
Nine houses along two sides of Sixth Street, just west of Court Street in Portsmouth's Boneyfiddle area, form a compact district built between about 1850 and 1910. The row shows the area's changing tastes, with transitional Greek Revival-Italianate brick houses, an Italianate frame house with large carved brackets, a Queen Anne residence, and early 20th century front-gabled homes, one in locally made yellow brick. A c. 1880 mansard-roofed house is described as unique in Boneyfiddle. The district matters because it is the only surviving grouping of houses on both sides of a street in the neighborhood, where other blocks have lost buildings or gained intrusions. Residents were upper middle class, including steamboat captain Enos Moore and county commissioner James Connelly, who built 534 Sixth Street about 1860. Three of the later houses stand on the site of the Grand Opera House, demolished about 1895. Five rear garages are considered non-contributing.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is a small but intact microcosm of late 19th and early 20th century residential architecture in Portsmouth's oldest area. It is the only remaining grouping of houses lining two sides of a street in Boneyfiddle, while other blocks have gaps or intrusions. The houses were also built for upper middle class residents such as a steamboat captain, merchants and public officials.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 87002103, listed March 10, 1988. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 533, 534, 537, 538, 541, 542, 543, 547, & 548 Sixth St., W of Court St., Portsmouth |
|---|---|
| County | Scioto County |
| Listed | March 10, 1988 |
| Reference number | 87002103 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | c. 1850-1910 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Italianate, French Second Empire, Queen Anne and vernacular early 20th century |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | All nine buildings are contributing; five rear garages are non-contributing. Ownership is private. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 38.73486, -83.00104 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 87002103.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.