Brick Streets Neighborhood Historic District

Tyler's dynamic economy, somewhat diverse populace and stratified social and racial structure created a community of neighborhoods and historic resources significant for their associations with local history and local, state and national architectural trends. The Brick Streets Neighborhood Historic District reflects these associations and is the largest and best-preserved concentration of mid-19th to mid-20th century vernacular, popular, and high-style dwellings in the city. The district documents eclectic subdivision patterns and the variety of housing available to upper and middle-income Tyler residents between ca. 1848 and 1953, a period of sustained growth and development fostered by agricultural distribution, professional services, manufacturing, and businesses associated with the exploration, extraction, refining and distribution of petroleum products. The district's residential construction spans a 105-year period from the city's beginnings in the mid-1840s to the end of the historic period in 1953 and illustrates the various 19th and 20th-century styles and plan types present in Tyler and records the impact of the oil boom on an established neighborhood. The district contains the largest surviving collection in the city of intact late 19th and very early 20th-century dwellings and the best-preserved collection of bungalow house forms in the city. For these reasons, it is distinct from its surrounding neighborhoods while remaining linked to them and the city. Related to the historical context of Community Development in Tyler, Smith County, Texas 1846-1950, the district is comprised primarily of domestic and domestic auxiliary resources, Texas Multiple Property National Register nomination. The Brick Streets Neighborhood Historic District is maintained in good condition and retains a high degree of integrity. It derives its primary significance from its architectural form and its associations with Tyler's upper and middle-income white residents during a sustained period of economic growth that fostered ongoing community development. For these reasons, the Brick Streets Neighborhood Historic District is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level in the areas of significance of Community Planning and Development and Architecture within a period of significance extending from ca. 1848 to 1953. Although the period covered by the historic context could not be extended beyond 1950 for financial reasons, Tyler's social and economic patterns continued unchanged into the 1960s while local development patterns began to favor mass-produced tract-type development over eclecticism by the mid-1950s. Thus, the period of significance for this district is extended to the current 50-year mark, which is 1953.