Black Rock Gardens Historic District
a.k.a. Black Rock Development
Bounded by Fairfield St., Brewster St. and Nash Ln., including Rowsley and Haddon Sts., Bridgeport, CTBlack Rock Gardens, known as the Black Rock Development when built, is significant due to its direct association with the U.S. Housing Corporation's efforts to provide emergency housing for workers manning the factories of the city's war-related industries. It is a good example of the first government-subsidized housing built in Bridgeport. It survives as a local legacy reflecting the high design quality and first national housing standards achieved through the earliest government-owned housing program in the U.s. It is an excellent example of the work of the collaborative efforts of R. Clipston Sturgis, Skinner, and Walker, and planner Arthur Shurtleff, who created a well-conceived and executed model housing unit that maintains a distinctly urban character incorporating middle-class housing tastes with English Garden City and American Garden Suburb tenets. As built, the complex presents a strong visual presence and prominence derived from a cohesive site plan, shared materials, and similar scale, proportion, and design quality that set it apart from its immediate context. It is also significant for its association with Bridgeport's most intense period of growth, as housing for workers involved in defense work at the Bullard Machine Tool Company in Fairfield.
Local significance of the district:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.