We headed down to the Hamburg neighborhood in Davenport, which has recently seen extensive rehabbing and restoration of its historic houses.

The neighborhood is obviously named after the German Hanseatic city of Hamburg, which still is one of the most important port cities in the world.

Apparently many of the early residents of the area were from the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which are located to the north of Hamburg.

The German Kingdom of Prussia would later go to war with Denmark over control of the northern half of Schleswig in the 1860s in the gathering unification conflicts that would lead to the declaration of the German Empire in 1871.

The neighborhood is a National Register district, with a period of significance from 1848 to 1926.

As might be expected, the styles run the gamut from very simple Italianate style houses to elaborate Queen Anne to even some Renaissance Revival homes.

It’s not all mansions, of course, and these simple houses below attest to that.

Perhaps I’ll let the rest of the photographs speak for themselves.

It’s important to note the neighborhood is set on very, very steep bluffs, and it’s sort of funny because the “front yards” are facing the river and the bluffs, and the alleys are on flat ground. So to get to the front door, you have to walk up a tall staircase, like the one below. If you were taking your carriage home, however, you would go to the backdoor.

There is no Snake Alley like in Burlington, and this is a typical street up to the bluffs.