{"nrhp_refnum":"84002554","name":"Colonial Beacon Gas Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"474 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Stoneham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.47589000000005,"lon":-71.10059999999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story cinder-block and stucco gas station at 474 Main Street in Stoneham, Massachusetts, built around 1922 for the Colonial Beacon Oil Company and designed by the Boston firm of Coolidge and Carlson.","why_significant":"It is described as the best preserved of four surviving Neo-classical 1920s Colonial Oil Company gas stations in Massachusetts. It is also an unusually sophisticated example of early automobile-related commercial architecture by a noted Boston firm. It is linked to the growth of automobile travel along Main Street (Route 28) in the Boston area.","narrative":"Built around 1922 on Main Street in Stoneham, this former Colonial Beacon gas station was designed as a flagship for the Massachusetts-based Colonial Oil Company by the Boston architects Coolidge and Carlson. The one-story building is made of cinder block finished in stucco. It has two parts: an open, domed octagonal drive-through pump area supported by Corinthian columns, and a flat-roofed, two-bay service area. A tall lantern topped by a grillework globe once held the light that gave the station its beacon name. A Doric cornice and a parapet with starburst panels tie the two parts together. It is the best preserved of four surviving Neo-classical stations of the chain in the state. The site lies on Main Street, laid out in 1806 as a turnpike and later improved as Route 28, an early automobile highway. After World War II the station took on retail uses, and the drive-through was enclosed and glazed around 1975. It now houses a fruit and flower shop, and its original form remains intact.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Coolidge and Carlson","architectural_style":"Neoclassical gas station","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used as a fruit and flower shop; the drive-through was enclosed and glazed around 1975, and the original structure is said to remain intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.198234-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/7923/63792323/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002554.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002554/9bf7ed3b29-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002554/9bf7ed3b29-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StonehamMA_ColonialBeaconGasStation.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:StonehamMA_ColonialBeaconGasStation.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792323","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Beacon_Gas_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5148296"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/colonial-beacon-gas-station-84002554/"}