{"nrhp_refnum":"73000315","name":"Blackstone Block Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Area bound by Union, Hanover, Blackstone, and North Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.361151515000074,"lon":-71.05640351999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2.3-acre commercial historic district in Boston, Massachusetts, bounded by Union, Hanover, Blackstone and North Streets, containing buildings from the 18th to early 20th centuries and a 17th-century interior lane pattern.","why_significant":"The district retains six narrow 17th-century lanes within its interior, the only such group in Boston. Its brick buildings range from the 1710s to the 1920s and fit together on the old parcel lines. It holds the Boston Stone, a zero milestone, and two 18th-century houses tied to the Revolutionary War: the Union Oyster House and the Ebenezer Hancock House.","narrative":"Blackstone Block is a 2.3-acre section of Boston bounded by Union, Hanover, Blackstone and North Streets, just north of the Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market area. It began as a waterfront and mill district beside the Town Cove. Narrow interior alleys, including five-foot-wide Scott Alley, preserve the 17th-century street pattern, and six such lanes survive here. Brick buildings from the 1710s through the 1920s line the lanes and streets, and many are oddly shaped to match old lot lines. Two 18th-century buildings have Revolutionary War links: the Union Oyster House, where Isaiah Thomas printed the Massachusetts Spy from 1771 to 1775, and the Ebenezer Hancock House, where silver crowns from a French loan were brought in 1778. The block also holds the Boston Stone, an old pigment mill whose slab served as a distance marker from 1737. Many buildings have been altered, reduced in height or fitted with modern storefronts.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Peabody and Stearns (24 North Street, 1889); Mackay and Dunham (32 North Street, 1899); Charles B. Dunham (34-36 North Street); A. J. Carpenter (14-22 Marshall Street, 1916); Gilbert Miles Ramsey (18 North Street, 1922); Shepard and Stearns (1 Union Street, 1926); J. R. Worcester & Co. (46-52 North Street, 1928)","architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate and French mansard, and early 20th-century commercial buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked as good, fair and deteriorated, altered and unaltered; many buildings have lost upper stories and have modernized storefronts. The Union Oyster House has been in continuous use as an oyster house since 1826.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.710129-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7968/63796816/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000315.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000315/7abc7f14c6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000315/7abc7f14c6-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Oyster_Boston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Oyster_Boston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796816","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Block_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4923393"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/blackstone-block-historic-district-73000315/"}