Storefronts line the ground floor of the Franklin Block, the largest Victorian-era building in downtown Portsmouth. Built in 1879, this three-story brick building is the largest Victorian-era building standing in the city. It occupies the city block between Fleet Street and Vaughan Mall, the latter a former street now a pedestrian mall.
One block west of the city's central Market Square, the Franklin Block presents a U-shaped mass on the north side of Congress Street at Fleet Street. The main facade along Congress is lined with commercial storefronts on the ground floor, each separated by brick piers; the main building entrance sits near the center, framed by fluted stone pilasters. On the second floor you will notice windows grouped in fours: the outer windows of each group set in segmented-arch openings, and the center two set in rectangular openings topped as a pair by a rounded arch of brick and stone.
The third-floor windows appear singly or in pairs in rounded-arch openings, also formed out of brick and stone. Look up to see the brick corbelling that finishes the facade. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Notice the whole block between Fleet Street and Vaughan Mall, with Market Square just beyond.