{"nrhp_refnum":"82001991","name":"Mowers' Block","other_names":["Rolfe Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"7 Willow St. and 67-83 Blake St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lynn","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.464317804000075,"lon":-70.94508443699993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-02-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A six-story brick commercial and factory block at 7 Willow Street (also 67-83 Blake Street) in Lynn, Massachusetts, built in 1891 to designs by Edwin Earp of Lynn.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its associations with Lynn's shoemaking industry and with the city's rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1889. It is one of the largest shoe factory and commercial buildings built in Lynn in the nineteenth century and preserves nearly all of its original Victorian Gothic (Panel Brick) design. It is also described as the best preserved of Earp's surviving factories and commercial blocks, and gained importance after a 1981 fire destroyed much of the former shoe district.","narrative":"Rising six stories at the corner of Willow and Blake Streets near Lynn's Central Square, this brick building was completed in October 1891 for the Mower brothers, Quaker shoe manufacturers whose earlier factory burned in the Great Fire of 1889. Designed by Edwin Earp of Lynn and built by Joseph Breed II & Son and Nathaniel T. Davidson & Son, it originally held nine storefronts, sixteen offices and four floors of rental lofts for manufacturing. The Victorian Gothic design features fluted cast-iron posts at street level, decorative brick panels in the curved corner bays and beneath the cornice, and varied window arches resting on granite springers. It was among the earliest and largest buildings planned during the rebuilding after the fire, and construction waited on the city's decision to create Blake Street. Among Earp's surviving factories and commercial blocks, it is regarded as the best preserved. Its importance grew after a November 1981 fire destroyed much of Lynn's former shoe manufacturing district.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Edwin Earp of Lynn; built by Joseph Breed II & Son, carpenters, and Nathaniel T. Davidson & Son, masons","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic (Panel Brick)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in excellent condition and altered; storefronts were rebuilt in 1980 and the building is used for commercial and apartment purposes.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.87804-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7948/63794894/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82001991.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001991/54d514fd60-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001991/54d514fd60-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blake_and_Willow_Lynn_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blake_and_Willow_Lynn_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85003335","name":"Central Square Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/central-square-historic-district-85003335/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794894","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mowers%27_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6927287"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/mowers-block-82001991/"}