{"nrhp_refnum":"80000503","name":"Weldon Hotel","other_names":["Weldon House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"54 High St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Greenfield","county":"Franklin County","state":"MA","lat":42.59076169600007,"lon":-72.59495135199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-08-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A hotel building at 54 High Street in Greenfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, built in 1905-06 as an apartment house and expanded in stages through 1927. It was designed by Holyoke architect W. B. Reid for Frank O. Wells.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it was Greenfield's grand hotel and a prestigious center of commercial and social activity from 1907 through the late 1960s. Its architecture is also notable for the extensive use of concrete for both structural and decorative purposes, an early use of the material in the area, in a vernacular interpretation of the Beaux-Arts style.","narrative":"Built in 1905-06 at 54 High Street in Greenfield, Massachusetts, this building began as a 24-unit apartment house for local industrialist Frank O. Wells. Architect W. B. Reid of Holyoke designed it in a vernacular take on the Beaux-Arts style, using an iron frame cased in poured concrete and walls of concrete block in varied finishes. Bowed bays, rounded corners and beltcourses give the walls an undulating character. It became a hotel in 1907 and grew in stages: a dining room wing in 1914, rooftop solariums in 1920, and three more floors of rooms in 1927. Once the Mohawk Trail passed its door, the hotel prospered, serving as the town's main ballroom and banquet hall and drawing about 10,000 visitors in a season during the 1920s. Changing highway patterns reduced its overnight trade in the 1950s and 1960s, and it was vacated in 1977. Its importance rests on its role as Greenfield's social hub and its early, inventive use of concrete.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"W. B. Reid, Holyoke, Mass.","architectural_style":"Vernacular interpretation of the Beaux-Arts style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacated and closed to all use in 1977; in 1980 a developer planned to rehabilitate it as housing for the elderly. Exteriors of the later additions were in excellent original condition.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.941881-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/5/7951/63795105/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000503.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000503/ec4240b701-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000503/ec4240b701-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GreenfieldMA_WeldonHotel.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:GreenfieldMA_WeldonHotel.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795105","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weldon_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7980902"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/franklin-county/weldon-hotel-80000503/"}