Paddock Arcade

Glass-roofed 1850 shopping arcade, one of the earliest covered commercial passages in the United States.

The Paddock Arcade is Watertown's most unusual building: a mid-19th-century covered shopping passage modelled on European arcades. It opened in 1850, and its glass-covered interior still gives downtown a flash of old ambition.

It is small, so do not expect a full afternoon here. Go for the architecture, the sense of continuity, and the pleasure of finding something this urbane in a North Country city.

things to do architecture shopping