Old Dauphin Way Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Old Dauphin Way Historic District is a historic district
in the city of Mobile
, Alabama
, United States
. It was named for Dauphin Way, now known as Dauphin Street, which bisects the center of the district from east to west. The district is roughly bounded by Broad Street on the east, Springhill Avenue on the north, Government Street on the south, and Houston Avenue on the west. Covering 766 acres (3.1 km²) and containing 1466 contributing buildings, Old Dauphin Way is the largest historic district in Mobile.
Although most of the district contains working-class frame houses, large and ornate mansions are found along the main thoroughfares. The contributing buildings range in age from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Architectural styles include Greek Revival
, Gothic Revival
, Italianate
, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival
, Tudor Revival, and American Foursquare
.
land grants to the west of colonial Mobile. The area began to first be developed during the 1830s and 1840s. This early development mostly comprised residential estates along the roads leading from downtown to the village of Spring Hill. These included Spring Hill Road (now Spring Hill Avenue), Spring Hill Shell Road (now Old Shell Road), and Dauphin Way (now Dauphin Street). The district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
on August 30, 1984.
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 city of Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was named for Dauphin Way, now known as Dauphin Street, which bisects the center of the district from east to west. The district is roughly bounded by Broad Street on the east, Springhill Avenue on the north, Government Street on the south, and Houston Avenue on the west. Covering 766 acres (3.1 km²) and containing 1466 contributing buildings, Old Dauphin Way is the largest historic district in Mobile.
Although most of the district contains working-class frame houses, large and ornate mansions are found along the main thoroughfares. The contributing buildings range in age from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Architectural styles include 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...
, Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, 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...
, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
, Tudor Revival, and American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...
.
History
The Old Dauphin Way District is situated on portions of what was once the Price and Espejo tracts, early SpanishSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
land grants to the west of colonial Mobile. The area began to first be developed during the 1830s and 1840s. This early development mostly comprised residential estates along the roads leading from downtown to the village of Spring Hill. These included Spring Hill Road (now Spring Hill Avenue), Spring Hill Shell Road (now Old Shell Road), and Dauphin Way (now Dauphin Street). The district was placed 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...
on August 30, 1984.