{"nrhp_refnum":"79000353","name":"Pleasant Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Irregular Pattern along Pleasant St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Belmont","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.398483000000056,"lon":-71.17607224999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-06-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Art","Transportation","Education","Law","Politics/Government","Architecture","Invention","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential historic district along Pleasant Street (Route 60) in Belmont, Massachusetts, about seven miles northwest of Boston. It contains sixty-eight buildings and two monuments, mostly 18th and 19th century houses, plus the Town Hall, Old Library and a church.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant for its well-preserved variety of 18th and 19th century architectural styles and its character as a wealthy mid-to-late 19th century neighborhood. It is also tied to prominent people, including the artist Winslow Homer, legal scholar Roscoe Pound and educator David Mack. Historic visitors included General Lafayette and Elizabeth Peabody.","narrative":"Pleasant Street in Belmont, seven miles northwest of Boston, preserves a neighborhood of sixty-eight buildings and two monuments, most of them nineteenth century houses. Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire and Queen Anne styles appear along the route, with stone walls, shade trees and hillside lawns shaping the setting. The oldest building is the Captain Stephen Frost House, built about 1763. Landmarks include the 1881 Town Hall by Henry W. Hartwell, the 1902 Classical Revival Old Library by William R. Emerson, and the 1853 Italianate and Second Empire William Flagg Homer House. The street follows an old path from Arlington Center to Watertown. After rail service arrived, wealthy Boston merchants built summer and year-round homes here. Winslow Homer lived in the district and painted works here. Roscoe Pound, later Dean of Harvard Law School, lived in the Joseph Yates House, and David Mack founded the Orchard Hill boarding school. The district was listed for its architecture and these associations.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Henry W. Hartwell (Town Hall, 1881); William R. Emerson (Old Library, 1902); Albert Higgins (housewright)","architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire and Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked excellent and altered; most properties are occupied. The Old Library now houses school department administrative offices.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.951404-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7955/63795516/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/79000353.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000353/1b1a4af593-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000353/1b1a4af593-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corner_of_Moore_St_and_Pleasant_St,_Belmont_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corner_of_Moore_St_and_Pleasant_St,_Belmont_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795516","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Street_Historic_District_(Belmont,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715820"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/pleasant-street-historic-district-79000353/"}