{"nrhp_refnum":"07000510","name":"Goldsmith Block","other_names":["Ruggles-Shawmut Housing"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"41 Ruggles St., 746-750 Shawmut Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.332384414000046,"lon":-71.08350243699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-06-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Black","European","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story, orange-red brick apartment building at the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Ruggles Street in the Lower Roxbury section of Boston, built in 1892 and designed by architect Cornelius A. Russell for developer Simon Goldsmith.","why_significant":"The building is tied to the diverse ethnic, religious and social groups who lived in Lower Roxbury around Dudley Square. It is one of the last Classical Revival apartment blocks in the area to survive 1960s urban renewal. It is also the only remaining historic apartment block in this section devoted entirely to housing, and an example of Russell's work.","narrative":"Goldsmith Block is a four-story brick apartment building at Shawmut Avenue and Ruggles Street in Lower Roxbury, Boston. Simon Goldsmith, a local real estate developer, built it in 1892 on filled marshland and hired architect Cornelius A. Russell to design it. Its rusticated Classical Revival details include granite quoins, a granite watertable, a corbelled parapet, brick banding and three arched entrances with large keystones. The building was listed because it reflects the immigrant communities of the Dudley Square area, including Jewish, Irish and Canadian families, who lived there as tenants over several decades. It also marks a shift from single-family row houses to larger multi-unit apartment buildings. It is one of the few apartment blocks to survive 1960s urban renewal in the area and the only historic block there devoted entirely to housing. A rehabilitation finished in October 2006 stabilized the foundation and created modern, accessible apartments.","period_of_significance":"1892-1957","architect_builder":"Cornelius A. Russell","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"A certified historic rehabilitation was completed in October 2006, and the building remains in multiple-dwelling use with one-, two- and three-bedroom units, including accessible units.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.011871-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/7968/63796865/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/07000510.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000510/696db403e6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000510/696db403e6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BostonMA_GoldsmithBlock.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BostonMA_GoldsmithBlock.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796865","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldsmith_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5580317"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/goldsmith-block-07000510/"}