{"nrhp_refnum":"80000635","name":"Brightside Apartments","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2 King St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.25563599600008,"lon":-71.81339994599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-storey brick apartment house at 2 King Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, built in 1889 to designs by Fuller & Delano in the Romanesque Revival style.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as Worcester's most ornate early apartment house, built in the first wave of apartment construction near south Main Street. It cost $40,000 to build, making it among the most expensive of its type. Its unique sandstone and terracotta ornament suggests a custom design, unlike later apartment houses built from standardized plans.","narrative":"Brightside is a four-storey brick apartment house at 2 King Street in Worcester, dated 1889 by a plaque on its facade and designed by Fuller & Delano in the Romanesque Revival style. The symmetrical south facade is flanked by semi-circular bays, with a central entry framed by sandstone columns that have spiralled fluting and carved capitals. Above are an original iron balcony railing, terracotta panels (one bearing the name Brightside), a rock-faced sandstone cornice, a brick parapet and a sandstone date plaque. It was built during the first wave of apartment construction near south Main Street and cost $40,000, making it one of the costliest buildings of its type. Its distinctive ornament suggests a custom design, whereas many later apartment houses followed standard plans. A survey in 1977 described it as vacant after a minor fire but largely original, and as Worcester's most ornate early apartment house. A one-storey block of stores on the same lot is unrelated to its significance.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Fuller & Delano","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant after a minor fire at the time of the 1977 survey, but described as in mostly original condition; some windows altered.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.392333-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7929/63792957/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000635.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000635/3c95435eb4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000635/3c95435eb4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pvmoutside","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brightside_Apartments.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pvmoutside</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:Brightside_Apartments.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792957","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightside_Apartments","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4967792"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/brightside-apartments-80000635/"}