{"nrhp_refnum":"80000468","name":"Shumway Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"112-116 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Webster","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.04881003100007,"lon":-71.88483478599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-12-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-storey brick commercial building with an L-shaped plan at 112-116 Main Street in Webster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, built in 1886-1887 after a fire destroyed an earlier block on the site.","why_significant":"The block is a representative example of the late nineteenth-century brick commercial blocks of transitional Victorian Gothic/Queen Anne design along Main Street. It retains integrity of location, design, materials and setting. It is one of the few remaining blocks reflecting the commercial character of Railroad Square.","narrative":"Three storeys of red brick make up this commercial block at 112-116 Main Street in Webster, at the west end of the central business district near the former railroad depot. It was built in 1886-1887 right after fire destroyed the Merchants' Block, a wooden building that had occupied the site since about 1840 and was bought by local businessman Oscar Shumway in 1872. The new building has a symmetrical three-bay facade of pressed brick divided by projecting piers, with sandstone banding, terracotta tiles and terracotta date plaques beneath a parapet with ball-topped posts. Its style blends Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne features. Storefronts at street level and offices upstairs follow the original arrangement, though the display windows were re-glazed in the mid-twentieth century and a few side windows were blocked. It was listed because it is one of the few surviving buildings that show the late nineteenth-century commercial character of Railroad Square.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific dates 1886-1887)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Transitional Victorian Gothic/Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied; in good condition and used commercially, with storefronts at street level and offices above. Storefront glazing was replaced and some side and rear windows were blocked.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.779578-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/24/7972/63797224/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000468.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000468/66a96e4566-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000468/66a96e4566-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WebsterMA_ShumwayBlock.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:WebsterMA_ShumwayBlock.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797224","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shumway_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7504999"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/shumway-block-80000468/"}