Archive - Historic Preservation in Princeton Borough

Borough Historic Districts - Click here for map

		Jugtown District—Located at the intersection of Nassau and Harrison Streets, this area was originally settled in 1695. By the early-eighteenth century, Jugtown had become a thriving hamlet of houses, stores, a hotel, and a pottery works, from which the neighborhood derives its name. The district's beginnings are visible in the modest brick dwellings of the eighteenth century, which were joined later by elegant wood-framed Federal-style dwellings with delicate carved wood details and fanlights. During the nineteenth century, the neighborhood came to include houses in a wider variety of architectural styles. Queen Anne and Colonial Revival dwellings of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century completed the district.
JUGTOWN

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		Bank Street District—Tucked away along narrow Bank Street is a collection of vernacular Queen Anne-style buildings that form a cohesive and well-preserved residential district. Constructed in the late-nineteenth century as modest residences, these wood-framed dwellings gather close to the street and to one another. These houses feature a variety of Victorian decoration. Wood shingles in fanciful diamond and fish-scale patterns cover them, decorative brackets adorn the buildings' two-story cutaway bay windows, and wood porches with turned wood posts and spindle valances welcome visitors.
BANK STREET

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		Mercer Hill District—Primarily residential in character, this elegant district includes the Albert Einstein house, Morven, a number of dwellings designed by Princeton's noted architect-builder, Charles Steadman, and clusters of Victorian houses. Landmark buildings in the district include Trinity Church and Princeton Theological Seminary's Alexander Hall. A variety of architectural styles is present here, with houses executed in the Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival styles.
MERCER HILL

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CENTRAL

Central Historic District—This district encompasses the core of the central business district and several Princeton University buildings that front onto Nassau Street. Its buildings represent diverse periods and architectural styles from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Located amid the district's eighteenth-century Nassau Hall, Bainbridge House, and MacLean House are the Greek Revival Nassau Presbyterian Church, the Tudor Revival Lower Pyne, and the Collegiate Gothic Madison and Holder Halls. The commercial buildings along Nassau Street demonstrate an array of historical styles, including Federal, Second Empire, Renaissance Revival, and the Colonial Revival of Palmer Square.