Cabbage Row (Catfish Row)
89-91 Church Street • c. 1783
Cabbage Row
This row is a late but major example of a pair of houses with a central arcade and well-preserved, commercial ground floors. The row is similar to 83-85 Church Street, but is three-storied rather than two.
The name “Cabbage Row” comes from cabbages and other vegetables that were sold here prior to 1928, when Mrs. Loutrel Briggs acquired the house, and when her landscape-architect husband redesigned the back yard.
The two buildings together have a double-hipped Mansard roof (without the characteristic dormer windows).
The familiar name “Catfish Row”—originally entitled “A Suite from Porgy and Bess”—is an orchestral work from George Gershwin’s opera, Porgy and Bess. •
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