Lawrence's Downtown Historic District - Lawrence, Kansas - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

Lawrence's Downtown Commercial Historic District comprises the extant core of the historic central business district of Lawrence, Kansas. It is generally located along Massachusetts Street between 6th and South Park streets. Massachusetts Street is the primary north/south artery through the downtown. A grid-system of streets in Lawrence's downtown runs to the four compass points. Lawrence's downtown is located on a generally level area which slopes gently down to the Kansas River to the south. Diagonal parking is provided along Massachusetts Street, and parallel parking along New Hampshire and Vermont Streets. There are wide concrete sidewalks with curbs, light standards, and stop lights at intersections. The outside edges of the district are defined either by vacant lots and parking lots, most of which were formed by the demolition of historic commercial buildings; non-historic buildings; or historic buildings which have been irreversibly altered. Most of the extant buildings in this district have identical setbacks; i.e., most are constructed to the edge of the property line along the sidewalks. Primary building materials are brick and stone. The ends of the blocks tend to be anchored with larger buildings with more monumental appearances, and smaller one- to two-story buildings are situated in the center of the block.

The vast majority of buildings in the district are the commercial block property type as outlined in Section F of the multiple property documentation form "Historic Resources of Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas" (hereafter referred to as "MPDF"). These commercial buildings feature a distinction between the storefront level and the upper zone. Most of the storefront levels have large display windows flanking an entry which is generally recessed. Second story windows are usually narrower than those on the first floor. Most also have flat roofs with symmetrically arranged facades.