{"nrhp_refnum":"84002729","name":"Larrabee's Brick Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"500-504 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Melrose","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.455726122000044,"lon":-71.06545690699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-03-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick commercial and residential block with a slate mansard roof at 500-504 Main Street in downtown Melrose, Massachusetts, built in 1880 for John Larrabee and designed by Boston architect John Eaton.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it represents the small mansard-roofed commercial blocks built after the Civil War and is one of only two unaltered nineteenth century commercial structures in downtown Melrose. It is also tied to its first owner, John Larrabee, a prominent local citizen, and to the growth of Melrose's commercial center in the later nineteenth century.","narrative":"Larrabee's Brick Block is a three-story brick building at 500-504 Main Street in downtown Melrose, Massachusetts. Built in 1880 to designs by Boston architect John Eaton, it has a straight slate mansard roof, two iron storefronts on the ground floor and apartments above. Brick detailing, scrolled brackets and angled bay windows decorate the street front. The site earlier held Unity Hall, which survived an 1870 fire that leveled much of Main Street's west side, but nothing of that building remains. John Larrabee, a local druggist who later served as town clerk, state representative and mayor, commissioned the block. It is cited as a representative post-Civil War mansard-roofed commercial building and as one of only two unaltered nineteenth century commercial structures in the town center. It still houses shops at street level and apartments above, with original tin ceilings and woodwork inside.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"John Eaton","architectural_style":"Mansard-roofed commercial block (post-Civil War)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Remains in its original use, with small businesses on the ground floor and apartments above; the interior is little altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:58.051879-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/7956/63795660/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002729.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002729/8d8f3d9bcb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002729/8d8f3d9bcb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Grk1011/Stephen (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Larrabee%27s_Brick_Block.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Grk1011/Stephen (talk)</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:Larrabee%27s_Brick_Block.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795660","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee%27s_Brick_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6489776"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/larrabees-brick-block-84002729/"}