Downtown Martinsburg Historic District

The Downtown Martinsburg Historic District is the largest and most comprehensive of the Martinsburg historic districts. The area includes the centers of city and county government, industrial areas along Race Street, several major schools, firehouses, and churches, the two main city commercial and professional areas alongQueen and King streets, a major hospital, and incredibly diverse residential areas. Complexes of pre-Civil War structures, including Federal and Greek Revival residences, survive on John Street, Race Street, and North Spring Street, while additional earlier residences -- late 18th century to the Civil War era -- are spotted elsewhere throughout the district. Along with W. Martin and W. Burke are nationally important blocks of late 19th-century residences and combined residential/commercial structures.

Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Neo-Classical Revival, French Second Empire, and Queen Anne in many guises appear. The Italianate Row of 204- 214 W. Martin, with its well-preserved storefronts, has few peers, nor does the collection of late Victorian extravaganzas in the 500 block of W. Burke. Many of these maintain their lots with barns, carriage houses, wood sheds, laundries, etc. and the system of service alleys is in the main intact.

The High Victorian Gothic row at 224-242 N. Raleigh is another of the architectural landmarks of the city. The skillful blending of brick colors, marble, tile, wood, and iron evidence and attention to detail were found infrequently. There are several significant Mansard or French Second Empire buildings, but the best probably is the John Fitz House at 127 E. Burke built in 1880 and now endangered.

Several houses can claim important residents/owners. David Hunter Strother -- Porte Crayon lived and worked at 396-398 W. Race, while the Confederate spy and local heroine Belle Boyd spent part of her childhood in the home her father built in 1854 at 126 E. Race. Rear Admiral Charles Boarman lived at 208 S. Queen, Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of War Newton D. Baker at 213 E. Burke, and significant local architect Goerge D. Whitson at 210-212 E. King. All these houses have an additional cached of architectural value.
One major, though late hotel, survives in business while others, now closed, have left buildings. The Apollo Theater, built in 1912 after designs by noted theater architect Reginald Geare, survives as do Italianate, Romanesque, and Renaissance Revival commercial structures, along with Beaux Arts and Moorish touches. Brick sidewalks, and streets, a street clock, street trees, locally made iron, all abound.