Much of downtown Augusta is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Among other things, that means owners of one of the 51 buildings now on the register, who want to renovate, have access to some big tax credits.
The Water Street Historic District includes most of the buildings on both sides of Water Street. Kirk Mohney, director of the state Historic Preservation Commission, says most of the district was built after a fire in the 1860s that destroyed most of the buildings in the area.
“The buildings built after that time reflect the Italianate style of architecture clearly from that moment in time after the reconstruction. But then there are a number of other very interesting late-19th and early-20th century architectural styles that are found there,” he says. “A former movie theatre at the north end of the district, the Colonial. There’s a very nice art-deco-style commercial building in the middle of the district. There’s a very handsome Victorian-era stone post office federal building.”
Mohney says the main impetus for the historic registry application came from the city as part of an ongoing downtown revitalization effort.
