{"nrhp_refnum":"83000602","name":"Codman Square District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Norfolk, Talbot, Epping, Lithgow, Centre, and Moultrie Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.29047500000007,"lon":-71.0702093969594,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Education","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-acre historic district at the Codman Square crossroads in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts, made up of four buildings: a 1806 Congregational church, a 1900 high school, the 1899 Lithgow Building and a 1904 branch library.","why_significant":"The district shows how Codman Square grew from a rural religious center into a commercial and civic hub and streetcar suburb. The four buildings are cited as strong examples of architectural styles from Federal to Classical Revival. Together they reflect the long prosperous period the square enjoyed.","narrative":"Codman Square is a major crossroads in Dorchester, Boston, where Washington Street meets Norfolk, Talbot and Centre Streets. The listed district covers about four acres and four buildings that mark the area's change from a rural Puritan community to a middle-class streetcar suburb. The oldest is the Second Church of Dorchester, a Federal-style meeting house built in 1806 by Oliver Warren, with a bell cast by Paul Revere & Sons in 1816. The others are the Renaissance Revival Dorchester High School of 1900, designed by Hartwell, Richardson & Driver, the Georgian Revival Lithgow Building of 1899 by Joseph T. Greene, and the Georgian Revival branch library of 1904. The district was listed for its role in the area's community development and for the architectural quality of these buildings. One single-story commercial building from 1913 is the only intrusion. The Lithgow Building shows signs of neglect, though the group remains largely intact.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Church: Oliver Warren; Lithgow Building: Joseph T. Greene; Library: Charles Bateman (as given, 'Chales Bateman'); School: Hartwell, Richardson & Driver","architectural_style":"Federal to Classical Revival, including Federal (church), Renaissance Revival (school), Georgian Revival (Lithgow Building and library)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The Lithgow Building shows neglect and under-utilization, with boarded windows and doors. The form says the four buildings survive in remarkably intact order amid neighborhood decline. The church remains in use for worship.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.254442-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/7967/63796790/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000602.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000602/f5bc7350b9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000602/f5bc7350b9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BostonMA_CodmanSquare.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:BostonMA_CodmanSquare.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796790","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codman_Square_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5140312"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/codman-square-district-83000602/"}