Pembroke City Historic District, partly contained in East Bridgeport National Register Historic District, is situated on the east bank of the Pequonnock River, opposite of the northerly part of the central business district. It comprises of a Victorian planned residential and industrial community surrounding a central square, Washington Park. East Bridgeport was laid out in 1851 on what had been vacant farm-land across the river from Bridgeport. Its promoters were P.T. Barnum and William H. Noble, a lawyer whose family owned much of the land. The Victorian enclosure of Washington Park remains basically intact, although the removal of towers, monitors, decorative wood trim and landscaping have compromised its integrity somewhat. The side streets that relate to the park have kept their original ambiance in varying degrees, but all retain a strong nineteenth century flavor.

More than any other Victorian neighborhood in Bridgeport, East Bridgeport bears the marks of being a planned community. Located away from the mainstream of business expansion, its original design has never suffered major changes, and private restoration activity which is already underway promises to make the area again a model of nineteenth century urban design. [NR]

Architecture, Industry, Community Planning: The East Bridgeport National Register District containing Pembroke City District, is Bridgeport's most intact nineteenth century neighborhood. It houses in a concentrated area the development of the city as a whole in the Victorian period. It was planned from the onset as a totally integrated community with industries, businesses, and all classes of housing in close proximity to one another. The streets of the district are laid out in a regular pattern and meet at right angles. The Pembroke City Historic District includes the following major streets:1. William Street that contains a mix of brick row houses & wood frame and brick tenement houses dating from the 1880s as well as single houses constructed earlier. 2. Harriet Street that contains brick row houses along with middle class wood frame single and double houses that date from between 1851 and 1890. 3. Barnum, East Washington and Noble Avenues and Kossuth Street that surround Washington Park and have harmonious nineteenth century structures. Houses are built in facing pairs across the park, and the buildings in the center of each block are set back an additional distance. The architect for the development is undocumented but Abram Skaats is known to have designed many of the post-Civil War period structure. 4.Park Street which was developed mostly in the 1860s and is lined with single and double Italianate houses with an admixture of Queen Anne cottages. 5. Beach Street that contains single Italianate houses and later flat-style two families. [NR]

[1] District information and maps obtained from the town website www.bridgeportct.gov.
[2] Historic buildings survey data base documentation, Bridgeport, Connecticut Historical Commission, 1997.
[3] Assessors information retrieved from the website visionappraisal.com.
[4] GIS information retrieved on from the website http://gis.cdm.com/BridgeportCT/map.htm.
[NR] Brilvitch Charles W., East Bridgeport Historic District, National Register Nomination Number- 79002659 NRIS, National Park Service, 1979 - http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/79002659.pdf; http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/79002659.pdf

Historic District Number 1 is geographically comprised of all areas of City except Stratfield Historic District.