Middlesex COUNTY · Places & community
Middletown’s Exchange Block: a Main Street in close-up
A connected row of shops and upper stories records the changing face of Middletown’s downtown. A detailed architectural survey lets us read the block one storefront at a time.
Historical focus · 1827–20th century
LOOK CLOSER · OPEN ANY IMAGE
The story in photographs
April 30, 1978
1. EXCHANGE BLOCK, LOOKING NORTHEAST - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
1. EXCHANGE BLOCK, LOOKING NORTHEAST - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
DETAIL VIEW, EXCHANGE BLOCK, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
2. DETAIL VIEW, EXCHANGE BLOCK, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
3. EXCHANGE BLOCK, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
3. EXCHANGE BLOCK, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
4. EAST (REAR) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
4. EAST (REAR) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
5. SOUTH (SIDE) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
5. SOUTH (SIDE) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 108-122 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
6. WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 108-122 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
7. DETAIL OF 112-116 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
7. DETAIL OF 112-116 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 118-132 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
8. WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 118-132 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 118-138 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
9. WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 118-138 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 134-150 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
10. WEST (FRONT) ELEVATIONS OF 134-150 MAIN STREET - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
11. NORTH (SIDE) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
11. NORTH (SIDE) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsApril 30, 1978
12. DETAIL OF EAST (REAR) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
12. DETAIL OF EAST (REAR) ELEVATION - Exchange Block, 108-150 Main Street, Middletown, Middlesex County, CT
Image credit & source
Harvey Limon / Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
Original source · Reuse termsTHE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPHS
People, places, and change.
A block, rather than a single landmark
The Exchange Block stretches along 108–150 Main Street. The federal architectural survey dates most of its original construction to 1827 and identifies it as a particularly useful surviving example of a nineteenth-century urban streetscape. Its importance lies in the relationship between buildings: repeated windows, shared edges and the changing rhythm of shop entrances make a continuous public face. It belongs to the archive’s later nineteenth- and twentieth-century story even though its origins precede 1850. [1]
The street keeps changing
The survey records subsequent work after 1900. That matters when looking at its photographs: a building is not a frozen illustration of the year it was erected. Compare the upper walls with the storefronts, the roofline with the signs, and a broad street view with the close views. The photographed condition is evidence of change accumulated over time. It does not identify every business that occupied the block or prove that every pictured feature survives today. [1]
Reading the full photographic sequence
The collection moves from overall views to individual elevations and architectural details. These photographs are useful for comparing addresses and locating features within the row. The original HABS captions remain attached to the images. Where a caption supplies no exposure date, the gallery says so; the catalog’s general compilation date is not substituted for a precise photograph date. [1]
Keep the sources close.
Download this collection’s notes, timeline and image credits. Photographs link to their original archives and require an internet connection.
Building dates and photograph dates are recorded separately. Later photographs are identified in their captions; unknown exposure dates remain unknown. Follow each image’s credit and reuse terms.