Historic Name

199-203 Birch Avenue

Address

199-203 Birch Avenue

Tax Parcel

1114_6902_61

Historic District

Witherspoon-Jackson Historic District

Classification

Contributing

Number of Resources

1

Style

Other

Number of Stories

2

Material

Aluminum

Historic Function

Domestic

Current Function

Domestic

Last Entry Update

2/20/2020

Setting

Description

This 2-story, 4-bay vernacular twin is very similar in appearance with the house at 165-171 Birch Avenue. The main features of the twin are its hipped-roofed front porch, low-pitched cross gable, and its chimney pots. It features a side-gable roof with a low-pitched, front cross-gable that is clad with asphalt shingles and features two, interior, brick chimneys, one located on the east gable and one located on the west gable. Each chimney sports its own chimney pot. The house is clad in aluminum siding. The first floor of the south (front) elevation features a one-story, half- length, hipped-roofed porch with two front doors in the center, one leading into 199 Birch Avenue (east door) and the other leading into 203 Birch Avenue (west door). The porch is accessed by a central form-block staircase with three iron balustrades, one on each side of the staircase and one in the middle, delineating 199’s half of the staircase from 203’s half. It features two iron posts with an iron balustrade. The front doors (sash units with four lights over three cross-panels) are flanked on their east by one, single, two-over-two, double-hung sash window and on their west by one, single, two-over-two, double-hung sash window. On the second floor, there are two, single, one-over-one, double- hung sash windows, one centered over 199’s first floor window and one centered over 203’s first floor window. There is a two-story, shed-roofed addition attached to the north (rear) elevation of this twin house. There is a porch attached to the north elevation of 199 Birch Street’s addition.

Built

1930

Architect

Builder

History

This parcel was vacant until c. 1930. The house appears to have been constructed on Baker Street (likely the east side) c. 1910, then relocated to this parcel c. 1930 during the Palmer Square construction. The building is located west of two houses that are known to have been moved to Birch Avenue from Baker Street. Historic maps and Sanborn Atlases indicate that this particular property was vacant as late as 1918. The first historic map or aerial showing the house in this location is the historic aerial of 1940. Note: the 1930 atlas does not cover houses along Birch Avenue.

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
199-203 Birch Avenue, south elevation

2015 Photo
199-203 Birch Avenue, south and east elevations