{"nrhp_refnum":"83000606","name":"Lawrence Model Lodging Houses","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"79, 89, 99 and 109 E. Canton St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.338121932000035,"lon":-71.07003629499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-09-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of four detached five-story brick apartment buildings at 79, 89, 99 and 109 East Canton Street in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts. Three were designed in 1874-5 by Charles K. Kirby and the fourth was built in 1892 to a design by William F. Goodwin.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the buildings are prime examples of philanthropic housing in Boston, built under a trust created by Abbott Lawrence's will to provide model lodging houses for poor, temperate and industrious families. They appear to be the oldest surviving philanthropic housing of this kind in the city. Architectural significance is described as modest, though the first three were designed by Charles K. Kirby.","narrative":"Four detached brick apartment buildings on East Canton Street in Boston's South End, known as the Lawrence, the Abbott, the Bigelow and the Groton, were built as philanthropic housing. Abbott Lawrence, who died in 1855, left $50,000 in trust to build model lodging houses for poor, temperate and industrious families at reasonable rents. The trustees bought the East Canton Street lots from the City of Boston in 1873. Charles K. Kirby designed the first three in 1874-5, and William F. Goodwin designed the fourth in 1892. Each is five stories with seven bays, and the earlier three use a simplified French mansard style. Each holds twenty apartments arranged around a central stair hall with cast-iron stairs. The nomination states that earlier Boston model lodging houses no longer stand, so these appear to be the oldest surviving examples of such housing in the city. It also links Lawrence's interest to a parallel housing reform movement in England.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Charles K. Kirby; William F. Goodwin","architectural_style":"Simplified vernacular variant of the French mansard style (the 1892 Groton is a plainer brick-attic variation)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The form lists the property as occupied and also unoccupied, with private residence as present use. Later material in the file says the buildings were converted to Section 8 low-income housing, completed in 1983.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.325563-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/7970/63797022/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000606.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000606/c02831c904-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000606/c02831c904-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lawrence_Model_Lodging_Houses.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</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:Lawrence_Model_Lodging_Houses.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797022","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Model_Lodging_Houses","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6504392"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/lawrence-model-lodging-houses-83000606/"}