{"nrhp_refnum":"80000586","name":"Waldo Street Police Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Waldo St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.26579113300005,"lon":-71.79954584699993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick police station and district courthouse on Waldo Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, built in 1918 and designed by local architect George H. Clemence.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a major public building of unusually high architectural quality. It is an unaltered example of Renaissance Revival design with ornate terracotta detailing. It replaced an 1880s police station and served as police headquarters and Central District Court.","narrative":"Waldo Street Police Station in Worcester was completed in 1918 to replace an 1880s police station. It was planned to house both the city's police headquarters and the Central District Court. Local architect George Clemence designed the three-story building, which rises from a high basement to a flat roof. The north and west elevations and part of the south elevation are faced with pressed brick and trimmed with very ornate terracotta. Two nearly identical entries on the west side have arched doorways framed in brick, with terracotta lettering reading \"Police\" and \"Courts.\" Third-story windows are paired arches set within larger blind arches, each topped by a marble roundel. A deep terracotta cornice with dentils, modillions and foliate bands crowns the building. The building is recorded as unaltered and unmoved, retaining all elements of its unusual Renaissance Revival design, and it was recently vacated. It is regarded as a major public building of high architectural quality.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George H. Clemence","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Recently vacated; described as in unaltered condition. The form also lists present use as police station and district court.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.553001-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7928/63792857/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000586.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000586/38ac9103ff-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000586/38ac9103ff-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waldo_Street_Police_Station,_Worcester_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waldo_Street_Police_Station,_Worcester_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792857","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_Street_Police_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7961586"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/waldo-street-police-station-80000586/"}