{"nrhp_refnum":"09000032","name":"L.H. Hamel Leather Company Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by Essex, Locke, Duncan, and Winter Sts., and the former Boston and Maine Railroad tracks","address_restricted":false,"city":"Haverhill","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.776046500000064,"lon":-71.08578711191856,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-02-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An industrial historic district in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts, at the western edge of the central business district, bounded by Essex, Locke, Duncan and Winter Streets and the former Boston & Maine Railroad tracks. It holds nine contributing resources (eight buildings and one structure) built between about 1886 and 1929.","why_significant":"The complex is one of the largest intact tracts of historic industrial buildings left in Haverhill. Its six tall manufacturing buildings show how large factory design changed in the 1910s, from load-bearing masonry in the Classical Revival style to Moderne reinforced-concrete and curtain-wall blocks. It also reflects Haverhill's shoe and leather economy in the early 20th century.","narrative":"This group of early 20th-century factory buildings sits at the western edge of downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts, between Essex, Locke, Duncan and Winter Streets and the old railroad corridor. Built between about 1886 and 1929, it includes five eight-story buildings, a seven-story building, a late 19th-century warehouse, and a 1920s power plant with a smokestack painted with the L. H. Hamel Leather Co. name. The large buildings show a change in industrial design during the 1910s. Some, such as the Pentucket Associates and Essex Associates Buildings, are brick Classical Revival blocks. Others, including the Burgess, Lang and Tilton Buildings, are Moderne structures of reinforced concrete with minimal ornament. The Shoe and Leather Associates Building of 1918 uses curtain-wall construction. The complex is one of the largest intact tracts of historic industrial buildings in Haverhill, a city whose economy depended heavily on shoe manufacturing in the early 20th century. Much of the surrounding area lost its older buildings to demolition in the late 20th century.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George W. Griffin (architect) and Kelly Brothers (builder) for the Pentucket Associates Building; Concrete Engineering Company (builder) for the Lang Building; Damon Brothers (Essex Associates Building); Monks and Johnson (Tilton Building); Morse & Dickinson (Power Plant); W.A. & H. A. Root, Inc. (Shoe and Leather Associates Building)","architectural_style":"Classical Revival; Moderne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current functions listed include office, warehouse, restaurant/specialty shop and auto repair, along with vacant/not in use. Oversized steel sash was removed from the Shoe and Leather Associates Building in October 2007 for safety reasons, and incompatible rear additions were demolished in 2008 during a rehabilitation project.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.552161-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/8/7949/63794908/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/09000032.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000032/1d91e74860-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000032/1d91e74860-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HaverhillMA_HamelFactory_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</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:HaverhillMA_HamelFactory_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794908","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._H._Hamel_Leather_Company_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16893791"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/l-h-hamel-leather-company-historic-district-09000032/"}