{"nrhp_refnum":"06000524","name":"Brimfield Center Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Main St., Brookfled, Wales, Sturbridge and Warren Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brimfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.12229100000005,"lon":-72.2018543426127,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-06-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 133-acre village-center historic district in Brimfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, built around the town common and the roads that radiate from it. It holds 78 contributing and 17 noncontributing resources, mostly houses dating from about 1738 to the early 20th century.","why_significant":"The district preserves a rural New England village center with buildings from the Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and later Victorian periods. The Federal-era houses show a conservative local style that kept Georgian features such as center chimneys. The district is also tied to the early architect Elias Carter, who began his career with Brimfield commissions, and to local housewrights and industrialists.","narrative":"Brimfield Center is a village district of about 133 acres in western Massachusetts, organized around the town common with Main Street and the Brookfield, Warren and Wales roads radiating from it. Its 78 contributing resources include houses, a town hall, a library, churches, a cemetery and its stone walls. Only two buildings predate 1776, both on Brookfield Road, and one ell there is traditionally considered the oldest house in town, dated about 1738. Most of the buildings are Federal in style, though many keep Georgian features such as center chimneys and windows set close to the eaves. Local housewrights built many of them, and the architect Elias Carter, among the first practicing in Massachusetts, began his career with Brimfield commissions. The cemetery, laid out in 1721, has gravestones showing changes in carved imagery over time, along with an 1804 hearse house. Together the buildings and landscape keep the look of a rural village center, which is the basis for the listing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Elias Carter (architect); Jesse Hitchcock, Thomas Charles and Nathaniel Hitchcock (builders/housewrights)","architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italian Villa, Stick, Craftsman","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.812221-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/7952/63795245/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/06000524.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000524/21155185d9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000524/21155185d9-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hitchcock_Free_Academy_-_Brimfield,_MA_-_DSC04631.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hitchcock_Free_Academy_-_Brimfield,_MA_-_DSC04631.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795245","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimfield_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4968116"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/brimfield-center-historic-district-06000524/"}