{"nrhp_refnum":"77000168","name":"Church Green","other_names":["Meetinghouse Common"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"U.S. 44 and MA 140","address_restricted":false,"city":"Taunton","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.90121212100007,"lon":-71.08961616099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-12-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Education","Exploration/Settlement","Politics/Government","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 16-acre historic district at the eastern approach to downtown Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, centered on a triangular green with the First Parish Church. It includes 20 buildings plus two memorials, mostly dating from 1825 to the early 1900s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is a well-preserved collection of residential and commercial buildings in colonial and classical styles, from late Colonial and early Gothic Revival through Victorian, Shingle and Colonial Revival. It is also significant historically as the site of Taunton's original common, with continuous religious, educational and governmental use since the 1630s-1640s.","narrative":"Church Green is a 16-acre district at the eastern edge of Taunton's business center, arranged around a triangular green. The First Parish Church, an early Gothic Revival building of stone completed in 1829-30, anchors the green, with a Vietnam memorial fountain at its eastern apex and a 1904 statue of Robert Treat Paine nearby. Around the green stand 20 buildings, including City Hall of 1848, remodeled in 1896, the 1852 brick former Bristol Academy designed by Richard Upjohn, and houses ranging from a Georgian residence of 1829 to Shingle Style and Colonial Revival homes of the early 1900s. The land was the town common from the Puritan settlement of the late 1630s, and meeting-houses, schools and town government have stood here continuously since. The district was listed for this mix of well-preserved architecture and for its long religious, educational and political role in Taunton's history.","period_of_significance":"1600-1699, 1700-1799, 1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"Richard Upjohn (Old Colony Historical Society building and 2 Dean Street); Hartwell and Swasey (1869 church additions); Earl E. Ryder (original City Hall); Barker and Nourse (1896 City Hall remodeling); Richard Edwin Brooks (Paine statue)","architectural_style":"Colonial and Classical styles grouped around an early Gothic Revival church, including Georgian, Victorian, Shingle Style, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Most buildings are in use as residences, offices, apartments, a museum, city government and a church; one World War II-era building is in poor condition and used for storage.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.612538-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/7945/63794504/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/77000168.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000168/4f4b75cbe4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000168/4f4b75cbe4-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_Green_-_Taunton,_Massachusetts_-_DSC03669.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794504","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Green_(Taunton,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5116597"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/church-green-77000168/"}