{"nrhp_refnum":"78000473","name":"Fenway Studios","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"30 Ipswich St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.347391910000056,"lon":-71.09045239029446,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-09-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1998-08-05","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Art"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick and concrete artists' studio apartment building at 30 Ipswich Street on the western edge of Boston's Back Bay, built between 1904 and 1906 and containing 43 studio apartments.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an unaltered structure in continuous use as artists' housing since construction, and Boston's oldest example of this building type. It was designed by the prominent firm Parker and Thomas in close consultation with working painters, and it was closely associated with the Boston School of painters. It is also a rare early Boston example of Arts and Crafts influence.","narrative":"Fenway Studios is a four-story brick and concrete building at 30 Ipswich Street, on the western edge of Boston's Back Bay. Built between 1904 and 1906, it holds 43 two-story studio apartments in a long rectangular block measuring 260 by 32 feet. Its factory-style facade of large wooden windows faces north to give painters steady light, and modest geometric brick and concrete ornament reflects the Arts and Crafts movement. Boston businessman Eban Jordan conceived the project and set up a trust to build and manage it. The architects, J. Harleston Parker and Douglas Thomas, designed it with input from experienced painters, using Paris ateliers as a model. Each studio has a balcony level above a double-height working space. The building is unaltered and has served artists continuously since it opened. Tenants have included Joseph DeCamp, Edmund Tarbell, William Paxton, Philip and Lillian Hale, and Charles Hopkinson, key figures of the Boston School, and prominent artists still work there.","period_of_significance":"1904-06","architect_builder":"J. Harleston Parker and Douglas Thomas","architectural_style":"Pier-and-spandrel industrial construction with Arts and Crafts ornament","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in continuous use as artist studios and residences; the building has not been altered since construction.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.581208-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7967/63796716/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/78000473.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000473/3bba0a15a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000473/3bba0a15a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Edenaviv5","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Massachusetts_-_Fenway_Studios_-_20231012173927.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\">Edenaviv5</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:Massachusetts_-_Fenway_Studios_-_20231012173927.jpeg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796716","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Studios","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5443667"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/fenway-studios-78000473/"}