The Roslyn Village Historic District encompasses the center of that village in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It includes within its boundaries the earlier Main Street Historic District, although that is considered a separate

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, which added the Roslyn Village district to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1987.

Overview

Distinct from the Main Street Historic District, the newer one includes more commercial property along Old Northern Boulevard, which makes a loop through downtown Roslyn off North Hempstead Turnpike ( NY 25A), the main through road along

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

's North Shore. Its contributing buildings, including several listed separately on the Register, are generally distributed over a wider range of

architectural style An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

s from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Geography

All but 25 of the district's 65 acres (6 of 26 ha) are accounted for by the Main Street District, which includes all property along Main Street between Glen Avenue and the intersection with East Broadway. The Roslyn Village district includes most of the remaining properties within the triangle created by Main, East Broadway and Old Northern, and some areas to the northeast along Glen Avenue, going up to Route 25A and the old Northern Mill Pond.

History

Since the settlement's earliest days, in the mid-17th century, its development had clustered around Main Street. That growth took off in the early 19th century after

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, when most of the houses on Main were built. After the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, demand still existed for houses in Roslyn, and buyers and builders turned to East Broadway, which shared the steep hillside and Roslyn Pond shoreline as Main, although in opposite directions. As a result, the East Broadway houses skew to the late 19th century, with

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

styles predominating. James K. Davis, who had earlier designed some of the Main Street houses, embraced the new Second Empire

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

ed look in 1876 for his own house at 139 East Broadway. The Queen Anne style is exemplified by Evangeline Charman's 207 East Broadway home, built in 1895. In the early 20th century there was still some room left to build on at the edges of the district, and in 1921 the Bryant Library on East Broadway gave the future district its major

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

building. By 1930 the East Broadway area was as developed as Main Street had been several decades before, and builders turned elsewhere, leaving the district to retain its own historic character. As the

Roslyn Landmark Society The Roslyn Landmark Society (also known as RLS) is a nonprofit historical society headquartered at 36 Main Street in Roslyn, New York. It serves as the historical and landmark society for the Greater Roslyn area. Description The Roslyn Landma ...

began to focus local attention on identifying and preserving the village's historic buildings in the 1960s, leading to the creation of the Main Street district, threatened older houses from elsewhere in the village and greater Roslyn area were moved to East Broadway to better protect them. An expanded historic inventory in 1979 led to a local

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, which included the Roslyn Village district. The reviewers of the

initially balked at the idea of having two separate districts, suggesting instead that the state Office of Historic Preservation apply to expand the boundaries of the existing district. The state resubmitted the application, carefully explaining how Main Street constituted a visually and historically distinct collection of properties even within the proposed new district, and the Roslyn Village Historic District was added to the National Register.

Preservation

Roslyn has added to its ordinances a provision protecting the buildings in both its historic districts. They are recognized in its

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

and any additions, demolition or alterations are subject to approval by the six-member Historic District Board. The Roslyn Landmark Society also holds a

restrictive covenant A covenant, in its most general and covenant (historical), historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the ...

on some of the properties.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Roslyn, New York National Register of Historic Places in North Hempstead (town), New York Historic districts in Nassau County, New York Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) 1987 establishments in New York (state)