Historic Name

187 Birch Avenue

Address

187 Birch Avenue

Tax Parcel

1114_6902_59

Historic District

Witherspoon-Jackson Historic District

Classification

Contributing

Number of Resources

1

Style

Other

Number of Stories

2

Material

Stucco

Historic Function

Domestic

Current Function

Domestic

Last Entry Update

2/20/2020

Setting

Description

This property contains the west half of a 2-story, 4-bay vernacular twin that appears to be one of four houses on the north side of Birch Avenue that were relocated here from Baker Street c. 1930. The house’s main feature is its hipped-roofed door hood. It features a side-gableroof that is clad with asphalt shingles with wood eaves and features one, interior, brick chimney located on the north (rear) slope of 187 Birch Avenue’s roof. The house is clad in stucco. All of the house’s windows are replacements. The first floor of the south elevation features a hipped- roofed door hood supported by two wood brackets, one on each side of the hood. The hood is located over the twin’s central front doors, one of which leads into 183 Birch Avenue (east door) and the other of which leads into 187Birch Avenue (west door). The porch is accessed by one, center, concrete and brick staircase with double, iron balustrades. The front doorsare flanked on their east by one, single, one-over-one, double-hung sash window and on their west by one, single, one-over-one, double-hung sash window. On the second floor, there arefour, single, one- over-one, double-hung sash windows, centered over the windows and doors on the first floor. There is a two-story, flat-roofed, stuccoed addition to the north (rear) elevation of this twin. There is an additional one-story, shed-roofed, stuccoed addition to the north elevation of 183 Birch Avenue.

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 immediately 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
187 Birch Avenue, south and west elevations

2015 Photo
183-187 Birch Avenue, south elevation