Downtown Hartford

The Travelers Tower is a distinctive landmark in downtown Hartford.

The distinctive Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, designed in the shape of a boat, has been a downtown landmark since its completion in 1963 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

The Downtown area of Hartford, Connecticut, is that city's primary business district and the center of Connecticut's state government.

Downtown is home to such corporations as Travelers Insurance, The Hartford Steam Boiler, Phoenix Insurance, Prudential Retirement and United Technologies Corporation, most of which are housed in office towers constructed over the last 20–30 years. Downtown also serves as the hub for bus routes of Connecticut Transit Hartford. Union Station is located in the western part of downtown.

Downtown is also home to the Hartford City Hall, the Hartford Public Library, which is undergoing a major expansion and renovation, the Old State House, which is one of the oldest state houses in the nation, the Wadsworth Atheneum which is the oldest public art museum in the country, The Travelers Tower, Bushnell Park, and the Connecticut State Capitol and Legislative Office Complex.

The south downtown area south of Bushnell Park is the site of several imposing buildings built in the early decades of the 20th century as the headquarters for large insurance companies. The Scottish Union and National Insurance Company building, in the Georgian Revival style, was built in 1913. The Renaissance Revival-style Connecticut General Life Insurance Company building, built in 1926, was inspired by the Medici-Riccardi Palace in Florence, Italy.^[2]

Main Street, 1908

Along Main Street, Capital Community College and the Hartford Public Schools offices are located in the 11-story building that until 1993 housed the G. Fox and Company department store.^[3] The newly renovated University of Connecticut School of Business is located at Constitution Plaza. At the eastern edge of downtown at Adriaens Landing the Connecticut Convention Center opened in June 2005 near the new Marriott Hartford Hotel. Another recent major addition to downtown and the city skyline is Hartford 21, a 36-story apartment tower.^[4]

The downtown area includes eight historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Ann Street Historic District, the Buckingham Square Historic District, the Department Store Historic District, the Downtown North Historic District, the Elm Street Historic District, the High Street Historic District, the Main Street Historic District No. 2, and the Pratt Street Historic District.

See also

• Neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut
• List of tallest buildings in Hartford

References

1. ^ The Phoenix Companies website
2. ^ South Downtown, Hartford Preservation Alliance Newsletter, Winter 2005-2006
3. ^ The Store, Remembering G. Fox & Co., Connecticut Historical Society website, accessed October 9, 2009
4. ^ Downtown Hartford Stirs From Slumber, The New York Times, January 4, 2006

External links

• Downtown Neighborhood Data, Hartford Public Library website
• City Center: Downtown Hartford, Connecticut (map, photos, and descriptions)