{"nrhp_refnum":"71000356","name":"Massachusetts Avenue Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Between Salisbury St. and Drury Lane","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.27802100000005,"lon":-71.81155038589301,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-12-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-block residential historic district on Massachusetts Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts, between Salisbury Street and Drury Lane. It has eleven houses, ten built from 1889 to 1906 and one dating to 1751 that was moved there in 1899, on land once owned by Stephen Salisbury.","why_significant":"The district illustrates the single-family house designs favored by industrialists and professionals in New England around 1900, and holds the best examples of Worcester's high-style taste of that period. Stephen Salisbury's planned layout, with a central grassy mall, gives the block the character of a square rather than a linear street. The houses show unusual architectural coherence in materials, size, spacing, setback and planting.","narrative":"Massachusetts Avenue in Worcester is a single block of eleven houses between Salisbury Street and Drury Lane, divided by a thirty-foot grassy mall and shaded by tall trees. Ten of the houses went up between 1889 and 1906, mostly in the Colonial Revival style with Queen Anne, Shingle and Tudor details. The eleventh, the Trumbull Mansion, was built in 1751 as the Second Worcester County Court House and moved here in 1899 for residential use. The land belonged to Stephen Salisbury, who sold lots with building restrictions, including a requirement to build within a year. The first owners included lawyers, physicians, bankers and a mayor. The layout, with its park-like center, departs from the usual grid of the period. Matching materials, building size, spacing and setbacks give the street a consistent look. The buildings are described as in excellent condition, with no later intrusions, and this coherence and the planned design are the main reasons for the district's recognition.","period_of_significance":"1889-1906 (1751)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival, with Queen Anne, Shingle, Tudor/Jacobethan and Richardsonian influences; one late Colonial house (Trumbull Mansion)","criteria":[],"status_note":"All buildings are described as in excellent condition and, except the Trumbull Mansion, retain their original appearance; uses are private residence, institutional dormitory and park.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.355766-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/15/7932/63793215/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/71000356.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000356/1907a353c2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000356/1907a353c2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pvmoutside","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Massachusetts_Ave_Historic_District_Worcester_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pvmoutside</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:Massachusetts_Ave_Historic_District_Worcester_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793215","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Avenue_Historic_District_(Worcester,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6784191"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/massachusetts-avenue-historic-district-71000356/"}