Noank Historic District is a historic district

Historic district (United States)

In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...

 in the village of Noank in the town of Groton, Connecticut

Groton, Connecticut

Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....

, that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1979.

The district "is of architectural significance because of the number and concentration of interesting houses, particularly the vernacular Greek Revival

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

 and Gothic- and Eastlake-detailed dwellings, which line its narrow streets.... The preservation of these buildings' decorative features -- pilasters, bargeboards, peak ornament

Peak ornament

A peak ornament is a decorative element which may be located under the peak of eaves of a gabled building.For example, peak ornaments are notable features in some of the historic houses of the Noank Historic District, in the town of Groton, Connecticut....

s, porch

Porch

A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...

es and fence

Fence

A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...

s -- gives a visual and thematic coherence to this collection of primarily 19th-century domestic architecture."

The district boundaries includes almost all of what is known as Noank, including "[a]ll of the Noank Peninsula east of Elm Street [(Route 215)], including parts of Elm Street and Prospect Hill Road," but it excludes certain areas. The nearby Goat Island is not included in the district "because the two or three buildings on it were built after the 1938 hurricane

New England Hurricane of 1938

The New England Hurricane of 1938 was the first major hurricane to strike New England since 1869...

 washed away all previous settlement." Also "side streets off Elm are predominantly modern houses that are not related to those in the district."

The "chief landmark" of Noank is a Baptist church, at the apex of the village's land. That building "incorporates the 1867 Italianate

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 building, whose twin towers were destroyed in the hurricane."

It includes the Noank Shipyard, at the location of the historic Palmer Shipyard.

It includes a former velvet mill built in 1905, which also was used by the state as a lobster hatchery. The building was used for a time by the University of Connecticut Marine Research Station.

Other contributing properties include:

• St. Joseph's Catholic Church, 78 Front Street, shingled and with Gothic details
• a Methodist church, which as of 1978 were re-used as apartments, "also Gothic and shingled, with some unusual Art Nouveau floral windows"
• a cobblestone Episcopal Church, used as a museum by 1978, and "one of the few exceptions to the wood-framed norm in Noank building"
• the Morgan's Point Lighthouse, an 1868 granite ashlar
  Ashlar
  Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
  
  building with an octagonal tower,

There are about 260 houses in the district, and "[i]t is the domestic architecture of Noank which gives the village its character".