{"nrhp_refnum":"80000624","name":"Norcross Brothers Houses","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"16, 18 Claremont St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.25516010100006,"lon":-71.81810624899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two nearly identical Queen Anne style sandstone houses at 16 and 18 Claremont Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, built about 1878 for brothers Orlando and James Norcross of the Norcross Brothers building firm.","why_significant":"The houses are considered perhaps Worcester's earliest examples of Queen Anne architecture and helped introduce the style to the city. They were built for the nationally known Norcross Brothers, builders for H.H. Richardson and other prominent architects. Later local buildings by architects such as Stephen Earle and J.B. Woodworth followed similar plans and elevations.","narrative":"Two near mirror-image houses at 16 and 18 Claremont Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, date to about 1878 and are regarded as perhaps the city's earliest Queen Anne style buildings. Built of rock-faced brown sandstone in broken courses, each is two and one-half stories with a dormered attic, an asymmetrical facade, a central entry, tri-partite windows and a rounded corner bay rising to a turret. The house at 18 retains checkered slate tiling on its gables, while the house at 16 has a porch extending into a porte-cochere. Interiors include oak paneling, stained glass and art tiles. They were built for Orlando and James Norcross of the Norcross Brothers firm, which built major works for H.H. Richardson and others, including the New York Public Library and Worcester City Hall. The houses influenced later local designs by architects such as Stephen Earle and J.B. Woodworth. Their architect is unknown, and they remain among the finest examples of the style in Worcester.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect unknown; built for the Norcross Brothers, builders (Orlando W. and James A. Norcross)","architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Present use is institutional; the form lists the buildings as unaltered and not moved, and the original stone stable is demolished.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.983187-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/93/7928/63792893/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000624.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000624/c974e52453-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000624/c974e52453-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"TM","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:18ClaremontWorcester.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TM</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:18ClaremontWorcester.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792893","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norcross_Brothers_Houses","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7050493"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/norcross-brothers-houses-80000624/"}