| Fenwick, Connecticut | |
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| — Borough — | |
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Fenwick, Connecticut
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Connecticut |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.4 sq mi (1.1 km2) |
| • Land | 0.4 sq mi (1.1 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 30 ft (9 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 52 |
| • Density | 121.9/sq mi (47.1/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 06475 |
| Area code(s) | 860 |
| FIPS code | 09-27810 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0207058 |
Fenwick is a borough in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, in the town of Old Saybrook. The population was 52 at the 2000 census, making it the least populous municipality in Connecticut. It is a popular summer colony. Most of the borough is included in Fenwick Historic District, a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1995, the district included 66 contributing buildings and one other contributing site.[1]
Fenwick is set off from the town center of Old Saybrook by a large cove over a causeway. It is located exactly where the Connecticut River flows into Long Island Sound. Fenwick has two lighthouses, the Inner and the Outer. There is also a single public beach about a quarter of a mile away from the lighthouse. The Inner is at the tip of Lynde Point, Fenwick's peninsula, and the Outer is a quarter mile off shore, connected by a rough jetty. The Outer Light is the lighthouse shown on many Connecticut license plates.[2][3]
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Fenwick Historic District
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| Location: | Roughly, along Agawam, Neponset and Pettipaug Aves. |
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| Area: | 195 acres (79 ha) |
| Architect: | Multiple |
| Architectural style: | Shingle Style, Queen Anne, Bungalow/Craftsman |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 95000437[4] |
| Added to NRHP: | April 13, 1995 |
The Fenwick Historic District included 66 contributing buildings plus the Fenwick Golf Course. The district covers an area of 195 acres (79 ha) and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.[4]
The district is significant architecturally as "one of the state's largest concentrations of Shingle-style buildings; 17 of the district's 60 main buildings exhibit characteristics of the style."[1]:13
The district includes a large concentration of houses built using the Shingle Style architecture.
As an architectural concept, the Shingle Style goes beyond simply the use of a particular siding material. Shingle-style houses have a pronounced mass to them, a sense of heaviness and horizontality, that often was created by the use of a single large roof, such as a gambrel or hip roof, in contrast to the usual Victorian practice of equal-sized cross-gables. Dormers, where present, were usually made distinctly subordinate. Many of the buildings in Fenwick illustrate this principle. The house at 34 Pettipaug Avenue, for example, achieves the desired heavy appearance by having its gable-on-hip roof encompass the two-story side porches, thereby creating a single block, whereas in earlier Victorian styles the effect would likely have been one of a profusion of appendages.... The house at 12 Pettipaug Avenue has a similar roof, but a smaller second-story porches (Photograph 9). Nevertheless, it achieves the same effect by making the porch roofs into extensions of the main roof; indeed, the first-floor porch appears itself as a continuation of the main roof, interrupted only slightly by the second-story walls. Finally, many Fenwick Shingle-style buildings augment the effect of massiveness by giving the roof a flare at the eaves, or having an upper story swell out and overhang the lower story, or by including pent roofs over window and door openings. All three techniques appear in a quintessential Shingle-style building in Fenwick, St. Mary's-by-the-Sea (Photograph 3).[1]:13
St. Mary's-by-the-Sea, a 1 and 1/2 story house at 30 Agawam Avenue, was designed by Francis Goodwin and built in 1883.[1]:7
The Shingle Style buildings in the district are:[1]
The Fenwick Golf Course is a public 9-hole golf course and is the site of the Stephen Potter Cup. The golf course also includes public clay tennis courts and a boating club.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2), all of it land.
As of the census[5] of 2000, there were 52 people, 26 households, and 17 families residing in the borough. The population density was 121.9 people per square mile (46.7/km²). There were 83 housing units at an average density of 194.5/sq mi (74.5/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 100.00% White.
There were 26 households out of which 11.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were married couples living together, 3.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 26.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.41.
In the borough the population was spread out with 11.5% under the age of 18, 1.9% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 38.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 58 years. For every 100 females there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $57,500, and the median income for a family was $60,625. Males had a median income of $50,625 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $38,135. None of the population and none of the families were below the poverty line.
Fenwick was the lifelong home to actress Katharine Hepburn until she died on June 29, 2003 at the age of 96. Actress Rosemary Murphy, New York City mayor John Lindsay, and several members of the Whitney family have also lived there at one time or another.[6]
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