{"nrhp_refnum":"80001676","name":"Lake Street Fire Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2 Lake St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gardner","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.577112502000034,"lon":-71.99449983699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-storey brick fire station at 2 Lake Street, at the corner of Lake and Richmond Streets in Gardner, Massachusetts, built in 1884 with a one-storey addition from 1939.","why_significant":"The building combines Italianate plan and details with limited Victorian Gothic polychromy in its window surrounds, making it a good local example of Victorian civic architecture. It kept its design, location, setting and use over nearly a century as a fire station. It also served as a lock-up, a schoolhouse and a community hall, and its altered engine entries show adaptation to newer fire equipment.","narrative":"Overlooking the Heywood-Wakefield manufacturing complex from the corner of Lake and Richmond Streets in Gardner, this brick fire station was built in 1884. It rises two and one-half storeys under a slate-covered pitched roof. Its facade has four low-arched engine entries, a three-sided oriel window at the second storey, a bracketed cornice and a decorative gable with an oculus. A one-storey wing with three automobile entries was added in 1939. The design blends Italianate planning and detail with Victorian Gothic polychromy around the windows, which makes it a good local example of Victorian civic architecture. When completed it was one of the city's largest public buildings. The cellar held a lock-up, now a boiler room, and the second floor served as the Old Bell School House until 1890. The hall also hosted public meetings for the neighborhood. The station served as a fire house for nearly a century.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate with Victorian Gothic elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Gardner and in use as a fire house, though scheduled to close once a new central/downtown fire station is completed. Condition listed as excellent.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.287379-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/92/7973/63797392/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80001676.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001676/f2f2a22deb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80001676/f2f2a22deb-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Street_Fire_Station_-_Gardner,_MA_-_DSC00859.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Street_Fire_Station_-_Gardner,_MA_-_DSC00859.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85003185","name":"West Gardner Square Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/west-gardner-square-historic-district-85003185/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797392","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Street_Fire_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6477860"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/lake-street-fire-station-80001676/"}