Palisado Avenue Historic District extends north from the Farmington River in the town of Windsor, starting several hundred yards upstream from where the Farmington joins the Connecticut River. Palisado Avenue runs along the top of a ledge outcrop, Palisado Ridge, which is the first high ground above the meadows that mark the western bank of the Connecticut. The Palisado Avenue Historic District consists of buildings arrayed in a generally linear pattern along Palisado Avenue. The area has been primarily residential in use since Anglo-European people settled in Windsor, and continues in this use. There has always been some institutional use too, evident today in the religious buildings and schools included in the district. The buildings are widely spaced apart and stand on deep lots. Abundant foliage and trees appear along the streets throughout the Palisado Avenue Historic District, so that from any single point no more than four or five buildings are visible. The Palisado Avenue Historic District's buildings reflect the Palisado area's changing role in Windsor, and embody the distinctive characteristics of several periods and styles of architecture. [3]

Palisado Avenue Historic District is significant because it embodies the distinctive characteristics of architectural styles from the early 18th century through the early 20th century. The buildings include distinguished and for the most part well-preserved examples of several architectural styles: 18th century vernacular, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Victorian vernacular, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, and Colonial Revival. The architecture is distinctive for the high concentration (for Connecticut) of brick construction from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Palisado Avenue Historic District also has significance in the history of Windsor. The first English settlers in Windsor (and in the Connecticut Valley) lived on either side of the Farmington River along Palisado Avenue, and Palisado Green remained the center of the town's civic and ecclesiastic affairs until the church was relocated south of the Farmington River in the 1750s. After that, Palisado served a series of diverse and sometimes overlapping roles in the larger community of Windsor, all of which illuminate the town's unique history. [3]

[1] District information retrieved from the town website http://www.townofwindsorct.com/.
[2] Ordinance establishing an Historic District within the Town of Windsor, Revised 1963, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] District information adapted from the website www.livingplaces.com.

[4] Parcel IDs and GIS information retrieved from websites http://info.townofwindsorct.com/gis/.
[NR] Roth Matthew, Clouette Bruce and Griffith Robert, Palisado Avenue Historic District, Original National Register Nomination 1986, SHPO Library, Hartford.

The local historic district is contained within the much larger National Register historic district. Various setbacks define the outer limits of the District, meaning that some properties are partially within the District.