{"nrhp_refnum":"82004969","name":"Howard Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"93--97 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brockton","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":42.083516290000034,"lon":-71.02020165099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-04-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story, seven-bay red brick commercial block at 93/97 Main Street in downtown Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, built in 1876 by the owners of the furniture and casket firm Howard, Clark, and Company.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an excellent example of 19th century commercial development and an integral part of the largest and most prominent block of 19th century buildings remaining in Brockton. After the 1979 fire that destroyed the Bixby Block/Home Bank Building, the group became a focal point of the Main Street business district. It also housed an Odd Fellows Hall on its top floor, which gave it extra height.","narrative":"Built in 1876 at 93/97 Main Street in downtown Brockton, this four-story red brick commercial building has brownstone lintels and sills, a bracketed sheet metal cornice and granite quoins that mark its shared wall with the neighboring Lyman Block. It was put up by the owners of Howard, Clark, and Company, a furniture and casket manufacturer, as one of the first speculative real estate developments after the Civil War, when Brockton's shoe industry was prospering. The building was leased to other businesses, and the top floor held an Odd Fellows Hall, which gave it more height than its twin. Later it became a furniture showroom, and a wood and glass curtain wall replaced much of the original facade. In 1979 the upper floors were converted to elderly housing and a brick front was rebuilt from the documented original design. The nomination valued it as part of the most prominent group of 19th century buildings left in Brockton.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date 1876)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Upper floors were adapted for elderly housing in 1979, and the facade was rebuilt with new brick; the form lists the property as work in progress.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.465869-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/7965/63796530/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/82004969.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004969/3d68f7e606-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004969/3d68f7e606-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Block,_Brockton_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Block,_Brockton_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796530","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Block_(Brockton,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1631731"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/howard-block-82004969/"}