It also extends a short way west of Mellen on the north side of Congress.

Development pressure increased after Portland's great 1866 fire, after which other previously-residential areas were redeveloped commercially.

With its proximity to the downtown, the Deering Street area became a fashionable residential address for merchants, businessmen, and politicians.

Many houses were built on speculation, and most were designed by prominent local architects, including John Calvin Stevens, Francis H. Fassett, and George M. Harding, the latter of whom made his home on Deering Street.

Notable houses in the Deering Street Historic District include 52 Deering Street (1884), an early example of Stevens' important Shingle style work, The William H. Roberts, Jr. House at 15 Mellen Street (1898), one of the few remaining single family John Calvin Stevens homes on the Portland peninsula that retains its original floor plan, and the National Historic Landmark Thomas Brackett Reed House, designed by Fassett in 1876.