The majority of the neighborhood is residential.
Two-thirds of geographical area of the West End’s 650-acre
area has single and two and three-family homes that are well maintained
with interesting and varied architecture. West End real estate values
are traditionally the strongest in the city, as people are attracted
to its tree-lined streets of spacious homes built mostly between
1880-1920.
Yet
most of the West End population lives in rental housing. High and
medium density apartment buildings are clustered in the southeast
section of the neighborhood, on and near the area’s commercial
corridor, Farmington Avenue. Clemens Place, a 1920’s era complex
of 46 buildings, is on tree-lined streets and in a National Register
of Historic Places District as is most of the West End residential
districts.
The West End’s diverse housing stock, ranging
from efficiency apartments and rooms in larger homes to mansions,
is suitable for a wide spectrum of ages, income and lifestyle, and
has resulted in a very diverse population of about 9,000. The West
End has a growing student population who attend nearby colleges.
Area students create a large demand for the West End’s pizza
shops and Chinese restaurants, especially late evenings.
The
neighborhood’s commercial corridor, Farmington Avenue, caters
to automobile oriented and convenience shopping but in recent years
local pubs and restaurants have opened up and have thrived. More
are planned in the coming year.
Also
on Farmington Avenue are many professional offices and the West
End Community Center that provides programs and a place for
West Enders to meet.
Public spaces – schools, a park, and museum,
add to the West End neighborhood.
Elizabeth Park, a city park noted for its gardens,
is a popular destination for West Enders for strolling, active play
on its fields, courts and playground, sledding, dog walking or just
smelling the roses. The park’s Rose Garden, built in 1902,
has over 12,000 rose bushes and attracts visitors from the region
and beyond. Mostly the park is a place where neighbors unwind and
meet. Late afternoons there is an informal but daily meeting of
dog owners and their dogs on the east lawn!
Two schools, Hartford
College for Women, which has affiliated with the University
of Hartford and the University
of Connecticut School of Law, have roomy campuses on the east
side of the West End near the Park River. The law school has allowed
its front lawns to be used for a neighborhood soccer program and
a community garden.
The
West End neighborhood of Hartford is located in the west central section
of the city. It is just west of the Asylum Hill neighborhood at the
north branch of the Park River; this river is also its northern boundary.
The neighborhood ends at the West Hartford town line at Prospect Avenue.