{"nrhp_refnum":"08000506","name":"Westfield Center Commercial Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"91-115, 100-174 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Westfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.12308550000003,"lon":-72.7602556000867,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-06-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commercial historic district of seventeen buildings along both sides of Elm Street (US Route 20) in downtown Westfield, Massachusetts, between the Westfield River and Park Square. The buildings date from 1867 to 1960.","why_significant":"The district preserves Westfield's central commercial blocks, with Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Classical Revival buildings of brick and frame construction. Its history shows how local merchants and small entrepreneurs, including women business owners, built and used investment properties from the 1870s onward. Cast iron storefronts, pressed metal cornices and cast stone trim survive on several buildings.","narrative":"Westfield Center Commercial Historic District is a stretch of Elm Street in downtown Westfield, Massachusetts, running between the Westfield River and Park Square, the town green. Elm Street also carries US Route 20. Seventeen buildings, dating from 1867 to 1960, line the two blocks, and all but one church are commercial buildings of one to four stories set against the sidewalk. Brick predominates, though several early wood-frame shops remain. Styles range from Italianate and Queen Anne to Colonial Revival and Classical Revival, with cast iron storefronts, pressed metal cornices and cast stone trim as notable details. The district is important as the town's main commercial center. Frame shops built by local businessmen before 1870 were followed by three-story brick blocks such as the Lamberton-Loomis, Lane and Loomis, Lakin-Hall and Gillett buildings. They housed hardware, boot and clothing stores, pharmacies, offices, lodging rooms and a YMCA. Small entrepreneurs, including women running millinery and bakery businesses, started out here.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Italianate/Queen Anne; Late 19th Century Revivals/Colonial Revival/Classical Revival/Italian Renaissance","criteria":[],"status_note":"Sixteen contributing buildings and one noncontributing building (the 1960 Alonzo Building); many storefronts have been altered, and ground floors are in commercial use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.597004-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/7952/63795211/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/08000506.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000506/9d6239f1de-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000506/9d6239f1de-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rinnova_Building,_Westfield_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rinnova_Building,_Westfield_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"13000441","name":"Westfield Center Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/westfield-center-historic-district-13000441/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795211","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfield_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903146"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/westfield-center-commercial-historic-district-08000506/"}