AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Prospect Street Historic District is a remarkably intact pocket of mid-19th-century architecture tucked just northwest of New London's downtown on a hillside overlooking the harbor. In a mere 5.5 acres, 24 buildings—most built between 1838 and 1859—form one of the finest concentrations of Greek Revival and Italianate residences in Connecticut. The district captures the optimism of a booming whaling port that needed middle-class housing fast, and the result is a dense, harmonious neighborhood that feels virtually frozen in time.↗↗
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, the district is small enough to walk in a few minutes but rich enough to reward lingering attention to its classical detailing, fan-tracery transoms, and varied porch styles.↗↗
A Whaling Fortune Turned Neighborhood
In 1836, developers Hezekiah Goddard and Sabin Smith purchased the Hallam family estate from the hillside and laid out Prospect Street. The timing was perfect: New London was riding the crest of its whaling boom, with the local economy entirely dependent on outfitting ships for long Pacific voyages. The men who bought parcels and built homes here—Robert Coit, the Dart brothers, Peter C. Turner—were suppliers, bankers, and merchants whose fortunes flowed from the whaleship trade.
