{"nrhp_refnum":"02001473","name":"Friedrich Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"449-461 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Holyoke","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.197893700000066,"lon":-72.60942619199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-12-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story mixed-use commercial and apartment block at 449-461 Main Street on a downtown corner in South Holyoke, Massachusetts, built in 1908 and designed by Holyoke architect George P. B. Alderman.","why_significant":"The block is tied to the E. H. Friedrich Company, a successful Holyoke sheet metal and plumbing business, and to late industrial development in South Holyoke, including the effort to replace wooden tenements with safer housing. It is also a prime example of a commercial block in the Renaissance Revival style by Alderman, with stamped metal bays and a metal entablature.","narrative":"Built in 1908 on a corner of Main and Sargeant Streets in South Holyoke, this four-story brick building combined three street-level storefronts with apartments for 15 families above. George P. B. Alderman designed it in a Renaissance Revival style, using vitrified orange-red brick, brownstone trim and stamped sheet metal bays beneath a deep metal cornice. The E. H. Friedrich Company, a sheet metal and plumbing firm that also built a nearby factory, erected it on land cleared of older wood-frame shops and tenements, part of a citywide push for safer, more modern housing. Tenants over the decades included German, French-Canadian and Irish families, many working in nearby mills, and the Weinstein furniture store occupied the ground floor from 1930 to 1995. The main facades retain a high degree of integrity despite a modern storefront, while the rear porches and interiors show considerable wear. The building was listed locally significant for its commercial and social history and for its architecture.","period_of_significance":"1908-1952","architect_builder":"George P. B. Alderman (architect); built by the E. H. Friedrich Company","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Renaissance Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Apartments are mostly vacant and in poor condition in places; a commercial tenant occupies the ground floor. A local community development organization proposes rehabilitating the building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.926788-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/33/7953/63795333/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/02001473.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001473/0f8a3931d8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001473/0f8a3931d8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friedrich_Block,_Holyoke_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friedrich_Block,_Holyoke_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795333","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5503762"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/friedrich-block-02001473/"}