{"nrhp_refnum":"09000299","name":"Blakeley Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"475-479 Essex St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lawrence","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.46304074300008,"lon":-71.15715946099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-05-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-story Classical Revival commercial building at 475-479 Essex Street, Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts, built in 1898 to designs by local architect John Ashton for Richard Barlow. A noncontributing six-story annex was added in 2008.","why_significant":"The building is tied to the development of Lawrence's downtown commercial district along Essex Street, the city's principal commercial axis. It is also a well-preserved, high-style example of Classical Revival architecture by prominent local architect John Ashton. It is the most intact historic building on its block.","narrative":"Rising from the north side of Essex Street in downtown Lawrence, this brick commercial building was completed in 1898 and finished the last gap in a row of four-story masonry blocks. Richard Barlow commissioned local architect John Ashton to design it with ground-floor shops and offices above. The street front shows high-style Classical Revival detail, including cast-iron pilasters with egg-and-dart capitals, a dentil cornice, pale orange brick, granite trim and arched sixth-floor windows. Early tenants included clothing and shoe stores, physicians, dentists, insurance agents and lawyers, and Ashton's own architectural firm kept an office here into the 1960s. Lawrence was laid out in 1845 as a planned mill city, with Essex Street intended as its principal commercial street. As neighboring buildings were removed or altered after 1950, this one remained the most intact on its block. A 2008 certified rehabilitation created apartments above retail space and added a six-story annex.","period_of_significance":"1898-1959","architect_builder":"John Ashton","architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Certified rehabilitation completed in 2008: upper floors converted to 25 apartments and ground-floor retail spaces restored. The form's function section lists the current function 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 02:13:04.66638-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/8/7948/63794808/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/09000299.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000299/6c9d180fb3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000299/6c9d180fb3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"EraserGirl","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blakeley_Building,_Lawrence,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">EraserGirl</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blakeley_Building,_Lawrence,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794808","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blakeley_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4924577"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/blakeley-building-09000299/"}