{"nrhp_refnum":"02001615","name":"Upper North Street Commercial District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"220-555 North St., 33 Eagle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsfield","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.45399550000005,"lon":-73.25222428567048,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-12-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-block commercial historic district along North Street (239-555 North Street and 33 Eagle Street) in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It contains 26 contributing buildings, mostly two to four stories of red brick, built largely between the early 1890s and late 1920s.","why_significant":"The district records Upper North Street's change from a residential village street into a commercial center after the 1890s, driven by city incorporation, the trolley line and Pittsfield's electrical industry growth. It has a dense, uniform row of compatibly styled storefronts in Classical Revival and Early 20th Century Commercial styles. The St. Joseph's Church property provides a Gothic, set-back contrast to the commercial blocks.","narrative":"Upper North Street in Pittsfield is a five-block commercial corridor of mostly two- to four-story red brick buildings, with granite, marble and cast stone trim and metal cornices. It includes 26 contributing buildings, a mini-park, and several statues, boulders and a cast iron fence. Until the 1880s the street was largely residential. City incorporation in 1890, a trolley line in 1891 and the growth of electrical manufacturing encouraged owners to replace houses with commercial blocks. Most of the buildings date from the early 1890s to the late 1920s and show Classical Revival and Early 20th Century Commercial styling. Examples include the Blaisdell Block, the Coburn, and the cast stone Neo-Gothic Wood Brothers Building. The Blaisdell, Wood Brothers and Coburn were designed by George Haynes. The Gothic granite St. Joseph's Church, with its rectory and convent, sits behind a lawn and contrasts with the storefronts. Storefronts have often been altered, but upper floors remain largely intact.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George Haynes (Blaisdell, Wood Brothers and Coburn buildings); P.C. Keeley (St. Joseph's Church); Joseph McArthur Vance (Melville Building); Edwin Osteyee (Merrill block plans)","architectural_style":"Early 20th Century Commercial; Classical Revival; Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Most buildings remain in commercial, residential and church use, with altered storefronts and some replaced upper windows. One store in the Burns Block is noted as vacant.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.664798-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/7942/63794214/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/02001615.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001615/a655a85e11-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001615/a655a85e11-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States","credit_html":"Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bradford_Block,_Pittsfield,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794214","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_North_Street_Commercial_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7898828"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/upper-north-street-commercial-district-02001615/"}