{"nrhp_refnum":"73000302","name":"Chelmsford Glass Works' Long House","other_names":["Chelmsford Glass Works' Tenement House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"139-141 Baldwin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lowell","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.633409189000076,"lon":-71.34975437399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-01-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A long, low, one-and-a-half-story clapboard tenement house at 139-141 Baldwin Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, built shortly after 1802 (c. 1802) by the Chelmsford Glass Works for its workers.","why_significant":"It is the only surviving tenement of those the glass company built for its operatives. The nomination states that no earlier examples of this housing type have been documented in Massachusetts and that early Rhode Island mill housing slightly post-dates it, making it the sole survivor of the earliest American industrial housing development.","narrative":"Built shortly after 1802 on Baldwin Street in Lowell, this long, low house of one and a half stories once sheltered workers of the Chelmsford Glass Works. It contains three housing units, each with a central chimney and a centered door flanked by two windows. Clapboards cover three walls and shingles cover the west wall. A small shed-roofed porch and a rear lean-to were added later. The house matters because it is the only remaining tenement among those the company erected for its operatives. No earlier housing of this type has been documented in Massachusetts, and early Rhode Island mill housing came slightly later, so it is regarded as the sole survivor of the earliest American industrial housing development. The glass works was founded in 1802 beside the new Middlesex Canal, and many of its skilled workers came from Germany. The plan and style of each unit follow typical Colonial-period houses, though the building may be related to designs published by English architect John Woods.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (c. 1802)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial-period house type; the form notes a possible link to English architect John Woods's cottage designs but says it is not a direct copy","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, unaltered except for additions, on its original site, and in use as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.213795-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/7959/63795947/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000302.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000302/0b80a23eef-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000302/0b80a23eef-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LowellMA_ChelmsfordGlassWorksLongHouse.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:LowellMA_ChelmsfordGlassWorksLongHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795947","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelmsford_Glass_Works%27_Long_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5089960"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/chelmsford-glass-works-long-house-73000302/"}