March 2010: Old Towne Historic District, Orange, CA.

This month, the Architectural Ambler visits Orange, California, to explore the Old Towne Historic District, the largest National Register Historic District in its state. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, the Old Towne Historic District is approximately one square mile in area. Its boundaries encompass over 1,300 buildings representative of a variety of architectural styles popular in southern Calfornia from the late-19th through the early-20th centuries.

February 2010: Putnam Hill, Greenwich, Conn.

This month, the Architectural Ambler visits Putnam Hill, the historic center of Greenwich, Conn. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 24, 1979, the Putnam Hill historic district is small but coherent, with just over a dozen houses and churches from the late-17th, 18th, 19th and early-20th centuries.

January 2010: Brattle Street, Cambridge, Mass.

This month, the Architectural Ambler visits historic Brattle Street, a prominent thoroughfare in the Old Cambridge National Register Historic District in Cambridge, Mass.

December 2009: The Belnord - 225 West 86th Street

This month, the Architectural Ambler ventures into the little-seen courtyard of The Belnord, a palatial apartment building in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It’s privately owned, but if you’re in New York City this month, you can visit the courtyard in-person – now through December 16 (2 p.m. – 5 p.m., weekdays only). Reservations are required for admittance; email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to make a reservation.

November 2009: Historic Charleston, South Carolina

Tranquil and quaint, and oozing with colorful charm, Southern civility, and a heady floral aroma, the Charleston Old and Historic District is the oldest locally-designated historic district in the country. The nation’s first zoning ordinances protecting historic resources were passed here in 1931; the district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

October 2009: Gramercy Park Historic District

In the midst of the commotion that has come to define Manhattan, one sometimes wishes for an escape to a serene place – reminiscent of the days before honking yellow taxis dominated the streets, before flashy advertisements battled Blackberries for your attention, before Starbucks had conquered almost every city block. But, you do not need to travel far to find this serenity; you can find it in the Gramercy Park Historic District.

September 2009: Oregon Historic District

Nicknamed the "Gem City", Dayton, Ohio garners national recognition from its association with its most famous native sons - Orville and Wilbur Wright. With the construction of the Miami and Erie canal in the 1830s, Dayton grew in wealth, people and reputation. By 1870, Dayton ranked fifth in the nation. The Oregon Historic District is Dayton's oldest and first National Register district, listed in 1974.

August 2009: Wesleyan Grove Historic District

It’s been called a fairyland. There are more than 300 tiny clustered cottages, painted in a rainbow of pink and purple and pastel blue and green, and decorated with curlicue trim that drips off the roofs like icing on a cake. But this isn’t Wonderland at the end of a rabbit-hole. It’s the Wesleyan Grove National Register Historic District, located in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

July 2009: South End Historic District

The South End of Boston is the largest extant enclave of urban Victorian residential architecture in the country. Declared a National Register Historic District in 1973, and a Boston Landmark District in 1983, the South End is one of Boston’s most distinctive neighborhoods. Signature block-long rows of oriel- and bow-fronted brick rowhouses with high stoops and decorative wrought-iron railings ensure a highly-admired architectural cohesiveness that spreads across 500 acres of inner-city fabric.

June 2009: Fells Point Historic District

Fells Point is Maryland’s oldest nationally registered historic district. Settled in the 1760s, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places approximately 200 years later in 1969, Baltimore City’s Fells Point is characterized by hundreds of late-18th and early-19th century brick rowhouses, and by long 19th- and early-20th-century wharves and piers extending out into Baltimore Harbor.