{"nrhp_refnum":"83000575","name":"Crombie Street District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"7-15 and 16-18 Crombie St., and 13 Barton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Salem","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.52077310300007,"lon":-70.89728890899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-09-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small downtown residential district in Salem, Massachusetts, made up of eight surviving buildings on and beside Crombie Street, a street laid out in 1805 by Benjamin Crombie. It covers about 0.77 acres and includes houses and a church that began as a theater.","why_significant":"It is the only surviving downtown residential group from the early 19th century in Salem, so it shows what the city looked like at that time. The buildings range from Georgian to Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate. Three buildings at the north end, the Crombie Street Church, the Bowker House and the Peirson House, are individually noteworthy.","narrative":"Crombie Street is a small enclave of eight buildings in downtown Salem, Massachusetts, laid out in 1805 by Benjamin Crombie, who ran a tavern on Essex Street. It is the only surviving downtown residential group from the early 19th century, and it shows how the city looked then. The buildings sit close to the sidewalk, yet their irregular placement gives the street a rural feel. Most are wood, though the church, the Bowker House and the older Prince House are brick. Styles run from a Georgian gambrel-roofed house moved to the street in 1830 to Federal houses and an Italianate home on Barton Square built in 1846. The most prominent building is the Crombie Street Church, built as a theater in 1828 and converted to a church in 1832. Its large arched facade blends Federal and Greek Revival design. Next to it, the Bowker House, built around 1810, was updated with brownstone trim about 1860.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Benjamin Crombie (developer; built 9 Crombie Street); J.W. Barton (built the theater, 1828); Joshua Loring (built 15 Crombie Street); Dr. E.B. Peirson (built 13 Barton Square); James Bott (moved 18 Crombie Street in 1830)","architectural_style":"Mix of Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Area described as generally good in condition, primarily residential and privately owned; the church building is in use as a church, and 15 Crombie Street has been converted to multifamily use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.680459-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7899/63789975/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000575.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000575/2284402c03-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000575/2284402c03-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Fletcher6","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Pike_house.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Fletcher6</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:William_Pike_house.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789975","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crombie_Street_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5187572"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/crombie-street-district-83000575/"}