{"nrhp_refnum":"74000361","name":"Arlington Center Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Arlington Center Historic District (Boundary Increa"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by Massachusetts Ave. and Academy, Pleasant and Maple Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Arlington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.41495476950007,"lon":-71.1553390774235,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-block civic and religious district in the center of Arlington, Massachusetts, bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, Pleasant Street, Maple Street and Academy Street. It holds eight structures, a public memorial garden and a burial ground, with buildings dating from about 1800 to 1913.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district reflects many aspects of Arlington's growth and has long been the town's religious and civic center. It contains architecturally distinguished buildings, notably the Robbins Library and the Whittemore-Robbins House. It is also presented as a good example of mixed urban fabric, where buildings of differing function match in scale and proportion and act as a buffer between commercial and residential areas.","narrative":"Arlington's town center is a one-block district where Massachusetts Avenue meets Pleasant Street, holding the town's main civic, religious and educational buildings along with a landscaped memorial garden and an old burial ground. Its structures include the Federal-style Whittemore-Robbins House from about 1800, the sandstone Robbins Library of 1892, the Robbins Memorial Town Hall of 1913 and the 1894 Central Junior High School. The First Parish Unitarian Church of 1857, designed by Richard Bond, stood at the corner until it was destroyed by fire in 1975. The site has served as a religious and civic focus since the 1730s, when the first meetinghouse was built near a junction of several early roads. The district was listed because it traces the town's growth, includes notable architecture, and shows how buildings of different uses and styles can share a consistent scale. The garden contains sculptures by Cyrus Dallin.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Richard Bond (First Parish Church); Cabot, Everett, and Mead (Robbins Library); R. Clipston Sturgis (Memorial Garden and Robbins Memorial Town Hall); Hartwell and Richardson (Central Junior High School, attributed)","architectural_style":"Mixed: Federal, Romanesque Revival, Second Renaissance Revival, Classical Revival, Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Rated in good condition when nominated. A 1975 letter reports the First Parish church burned on March 7, 1975; the congregation planned to rebuild.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.438028-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/37/7913/63791337/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000361.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000361/847d81727e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000361/847d81727e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arlington_MA_Town_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arlington_MA_Town_Hall.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85002691","name":"Arlington Center Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/arlington-center-historic-district-boundary-increase-85002691/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791337","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4792295"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/arlington-center-historic-district-74000361/"}