Woodland Street Historic District


The Woodland Street Historic District is a historic housing district in the Main South area of Worcester, Massachusetts. It consists of 19 Victorian houses that either face or abut on Woodland Street, between Charlotte and Oberlin Streets. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Located directly adjacent to the campus of Clark University, some of the buildings are used by Clark for housing and administration.
When Woodland Street was first developed beginning in the late 1860s, it was on the fringes of development in the city. Seven houses were built on the west side of the street, on large lots, and only a few were built on the east side. In the 1890s development accelerated as growing demand for housing pushed the urbanized parts of the city closer to the area. By 1904, the large lots on the west side were subdivided and filled in with additional houses, and the east side was fully developed.
The houses that were built in the first phase of development are predominantly Second Empire in their styling, although there are three Gothic Revival buildings built between 1876 and 1881, as well as the Italianate Charles Kirby House built c. 1870. The houses built in the second phase are either Queen Anne or Colonial Revival. The Frank Heath House at 11 Loudon Street is a particularly notable Colonial Revival house, with a high hip roof, a full front porch, and Palladian windows.