{"nrhp_refnum":"80000669","name":"Union Wharf","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"295-353 Commercial St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.365584772000034,"lon":-71.05023350799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-06-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wharf on the Boston waterfront opposite the North End, at 295-353 Commercial Street, with a granite pier dating from about 1795 and a massive granite-faced warehouse built in 1846-1847.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the warehouse is one of the few remaining waterfront warehouses and shows the granite construction typical of Boston's mid-nineteenth century commercial buildings. The wharf also represents the major role of the Port of Boston in nineteenth century shipping and the continual expansion of the city's shoreline.","narrative":"Union Wharf juts into Boston's Inner Harbor opposite the North End, its western end anchored by a granite block pier dating from about 1795. By 1850 the wharf had nearly tripled in size and reached close to its present outline. The chief building is a granite-faced warehouse, 92 feet wide and 290 feet long, erected in 1846-1847 for merchant John L. Gardner. Rough-faced granite over brick bearing walls, smooth granite quoins and cornice, and peaked pediments above the upper windows define its appearance. Later owners included the Metropolitan and Eastern steamship companies, and the warehouse also served as a bonded warehouse and a storage place for woolens and footwear. Fire and construction of the Sumner Tunnel led to the removal of the top story from its eastern end around 1945. Converted to housing after 1977, it remains a rare surviving example of the granite warehouses that reflected Boston's mid-nineteenth century shipping trade.","period_of_significance":"1795, 1846-47","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The warehouse was converted to housing after the property was sold in 1977; five other buildings on the wharf (a tin-clad shed and four rows of 1978 townhouses) are not historic. Condition is rated fair and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.888507-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/7968/63796814/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000669.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000669/d8aa6b359b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000669/d8aa6b359b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Swampyank at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Wharf_Boston_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Swampyank at English Wikipedia</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:Union_Wharf_Boston_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796814","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Wharf","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7886391"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/union-wharf-80000669/"}