{"nrhp_refnum":"83000794","name":"Concord Square Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Park, Concord, and Kendall Sts., and Union Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Framingham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.27787903900003,"lon":-71.41734876799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-03-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A commercial, civic and institutional historic district of about 14 acres in South Framingham, Massachusetts, north of the railroad tracks around a small common and the Union Avenue and Concord Street intersection. It holds twenty buildings, mostly erected between 1890 and 1930.","why_significant":"The district is tied to the growth of South Framingham as the town's commercial and civic center after the railroad arrived in 1834. It also represents late 19th and early 20th century commercial architecture of smaller urban communities, mainly in Classical Revival styles. The form cites Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Concord Square is the downtown core of South Framingham, Massachusetts, a cluster of twenty commercial, civic and institutional buildings arranged around a small U-shaped common and the wide junction of Union Avenue and Concord Street. Most are two- to four-story masonry buildings from 1890 to 1930, designed in Classical Revival styles. Its growth followed the arrival of the Boston and Worcester railroad in 1834, which shifted activity from Framingham Center to South Framingham. Notable buildings include the 1855 Park Street Baptist Church, the Barber Straw Shop, the Concord Block by Peabody and Stearns, the 1898 Hotel Kendall, the 1927 Memorial Building with its Ionic portico, two banks by Thomas M. James, and the 1930 post office. Together they show how the village became the town's business and government center, and how a small urban commercial district was built over about forty years. Storefronts have been altered, but upper stories largely survive.","period_of_significance":"1855-1940","architect_builder":"Alexander Esty, Peabody & Stearns, E.W. Norton, Thomas M. James, James A. Wetmore; also Ashton, Huntress and Alter, Charles M. Baker, and builders John Prindiville and A. Fales & Co.","architectural_style":"Classical Revival / Neo-Classical Revival, with Romanesque Revival, Georgian Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival influences","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition rated excellent to good and altered. Ground-floor storefronts on all commercial buildings have been altered, while upper stories are largely unchanged. The Barber Straw Shop was being rehabilitated and a rehabilitation of the Old Post Office was planned.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.304828-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/7956/63795686/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000794.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000794/f0ffd499db-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000794/f0ffd499db-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Concord_Square,_July_2012,_Framingham_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:Concord_Square,_July_2012,_Framingham_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795686","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Square_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5158863"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/concord-square-historic-district-83000794/"}