{"nrhp_refnum":"82001983","name":"Urban Rowhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"30-38 Pearl St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.36389875500004,"lon":-71.10348805899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of five urban brick rowhouses at 30-38 Pearl Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1874 for original owner Hiram A. Gerrish and still used as residences.","why_significant":"The row represents the 1870s shift toward denser urban housing as pressure for dwellings grew. Its continuous masonry street facade contrasts with the surrounding detached wooden houses. The brick banding in red and black reflects a popular 1870s ornamental style, and each house has a steeply pitched mansard roof for usable attic headroom.","narrative":"Five connected brick houses at 30-38 Pearl Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were built in 1874 for Hiram A. Gerrish and remain in residential use. The architect is not known. Built of brick in a Ruskinian Gothic or panelled brick manner, the row has ornamental banding in red and black brick, a decoration popular in the 1870s. Each house is topped by a steeply pitched mansard roof, which gave the attic story more usable headroom. The group was listed because it shows how growing demand for housing led to denser use of land. Its continuous street facades and masonry look created a distinctly urban streetscape, quite different from the detached wooden houses around it. The recorded survey notes that the buildings have not been altered or moved, and the reviewer described them as significant rowhouse examples worth considering together with the other rowhouse group on Pearl Street.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect anonymous","architectural_style":"Ruskinian Gothic/Panelled Brick","criteria":[],"status_note":"Present use is residential; the form records no alterations and no moves.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.506662-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/7905/63790562/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82001983.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001983/adb7d5986f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001983/adb7d5986f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_30_38_PearlStreet.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_30_38_PearlStreet.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790562","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Rowhouse_(30%E2%80%9338_Pearl_Street,_Cambridge,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7900006"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/urban-rowhouse-82001983/"}