Civic Institutions Historic District facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Civic Institutions Historic District
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 Location in Connecticut
Location in the United States
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| Location | 156-158, 171, 173-175 Garfield Ave., 179 Colman St., 32 Walden Ave., New London, Connecticut |
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| Area | 7 acres (2.8 ha) |
| Built | 1867 |
| Architect | Mitchell, Donald G. |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, Georgian Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 90000602 |
| Added to NRHP | April 16, 1990 |
The Civic Institutions Historic District in New London, Connecticut is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It includes six contributing buildings over a 7 acres (2.8 ha) area. The district includes properties that were historically developed between 1867 and 1917 to provide for the city's indigent population, and to provide medical services to the community. Two of the buildings are almshouses, built in 1867 and 1917, and the others were historically associated with the delivery of medical services, and date to the turn of the 20th century. The district properties are 179 Colman Street, 32 Walden Avenue, and 156, 158, 171, and 173-5 Garfield Avenue.
Description and history
The Civic Institutions Historic District is located on the western fringe of the developed core of New London. It is roughly bisected by Garfield Avenue, near its western end at Colman Avenue. On the south side of Garfield Avenue stands the former almshouse, a brick building with two wings joined by a central hyphen. On the north side of Garfield Avenue, closer to Colman, is the original Memorial Hospital building, built in 1892, with a wing added the following year. Behind the hospital, facing Walden Street, is a detached hospital building that was built as a dormitory for nurses in 1901. Facing Colman Street is the Mitchell Isolation Hospital, a single-story Colonial Revival structure built in 1914 as a facility for segregation patients with highly infectious diseases, including smallpox and tuberculosis.
These buildings represent the city's response to the need to provide for its indigent and sick populations in the late 19th century. Architecturally, they are well-preserved specimens of institutional versions of the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles popular at the time. The Mitchell Hospital building was designed by New London architect Donald Mitchell, who was a nephew of the hospital's principal patron, Annie O. Tiffany Mitchell, an heir to the fortune of jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany.
