Park Street Row

The Park Street Row also known as Park Street Block, is a set of historic rowhouses at 88-114 Park Street, in Portland, Maine. Built in 1835, it is the largest known 19th-century rowhouse in the state, and is an impressive local example of Greek Revival architecture. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.Description and historyThe Park Street Row is located in the eastern section of Portland's West End neighborhood, occupying the entire west side of Park Street between Spring and Gray Streets. It consists of fourteen residential units, built out of brick with brownstone trim, resting on granite foundations. Each unit is four stories tall, with a dormered and skylit roof. The fronts of the units are three bays wide, with entrances in the right-hand bay. Iron railings are set on granite curbing between the stairs leading to each unit, and shallow iron balconies run the width of each unit. Due to the street's slope, the units are stepped in pairs.This housing project was one of the most ambitious of its type undertaken in 19th-century Maine. A consortium of investors formed the Ann Street Company (Park Street was previously Ann Street) in 1835, purchased land nearly to Congress Street, and began construction on these rowhouses. These fourteen units were completed, as were six more that faced Gray and Spring Streets; the three on Spring Street also survive. Due to financial difficulties, the company was only able to complete the building exteriors, and they were auctioned off, unfinished, in October 1835. The individual unit interiors were then completed by their purchasers.