Historic Name

118 Birch Avenue

Address

118 Birch Avenue

Tax Parcel

1114_6904_9

Historic District

Witherspoon-Jackson Historic District

Classification

Noncontributing

Number of Resources

1

Style

Other

Number of Stories

2

Material

Tarpaper

Historic Function

Domestic

Current Function

Domestic

Last Entry Update

2/20/2020

Setting

Description

The building on the property is a front end gabled vernacular house with two rear additions and an enclosed front porch that creates its noncontributing status. The core and its primary rear addition are 2- story sections forming the main block. The front end gabled roof features minimal bargeboards and eaves. The house's frame walls are clad with tarpaper. Fenestration consists of replacement 1x1 double hung sash windows with lip lintels. The main (north) elevation features a small attic window in the peak of the gable and two second floor windows. The enclosed porch occupies most of the first floor; it has a nearly flat, hipped roof and tarpaper walls. The eastern half of the front of the porch features a wide window flanked by narrow windows, somewhat similar in design to a tripartite window; west of this unusual window grouping is the replacement entrance, opening onto a set of concrete steps leading down to the grade of the sidewalk. The east wall features three windows on the first and second floors (one bay on the addition). The west wall also features three windows on the second floor; the first floor is occupied by an extension of the 1-story rear addition. The main block has a concrete foundation with horizontal basement windows. The 1-story rear addition is located on the south and west elevations of the 2-story rear addition. It does not extend to the southeast corner of the 2-story addition. The section is frame, with tarpaper-clad walls. Windows vary in size and type.

The garage in the rear of the lot is a 1-story, 2-bay building with a gable facing north. Its walls are concrete block, with plywood above the eaveline. The eastern garage door appears to be sealed, as is the window on the east side. The building has a concrete foundation.

Built

1920

Architect

Builder

History

The house was constructed c. 1920. Historic maps and atlases show a vacant lot in this location as late as the Sanborn atlas of 1918. The Franklin Survey atlas of 1930 does not document properties north of Leigh Avenue. The house first appears on the historic aerial of 1940 and appears on all subsequent aerials.

Sources

If you have additional information or corrections to the existing information, send an email to ekim@princetonnj.gov.
Submitted information is reviewed by the Princeton HPC prior to updating the database.

2015 Photo
118 Birch Avenue, north and west elevations

2015 Photo
118 Birch Avenue, east elevation

2015 Photo
118 Birch Avenue - garage