{"nrhp_refnum":"85000551","name":"Woburn Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Woburn St. from Temple St. to Summer Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.52093250000004,"lon":-71.11385914895278,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-02-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential historic district of 16 buildings (15 houses and one church) along Woburn Street between Temple Street and Summer Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts, covering about 10 acres and dating from c. 1795 to 1920.","why_significant":"The district represents late 19th and early 20th century suburban development for Reading's upper middle class, including professionals and rail commuters. It also holds a large, intact concentration of high-style houses from a short span of time, with no intrusions. Two prominent local architects, Willard P. Adden and Horace G. Wadlin, designed or lived in several of the houses.","narrative":"Woburn Street in Reading, between Temple Street and Summer Avenue, is lined with 16 buildings on spacious, landscaped lots: 15 houses and one church. The oldest is a Federal farmhouse built about 1795. Most of the others were built or remodeled between the late 19th century and about 1920 in styles including Queen Anne, Shingle, Colonial Revival, Stick, and Craftsman. Saint Agnes Catholic Church is a simplified High Victorian Gothic building, and an Italianate house was moved around 1908 to serve as its rectory. Former farmland here became a neighborhood for professionals and rail commuters seeking larger lots, and residents included shoe manufacturers, a bank founder, a railroad president, and architects Willard P. Adden and Horace G. Wadlin. The district was listed for its representation of suburban development for Reading's upper middle class and for its intact group of high-style residential buildings, with no intrusions. The area still functions as a home for professionals and businessmen.","period_of_significance":"1795-1920","architect_builder":"Willard P. Adden; Horace G. Wadlin; Richard W. Francis (built 216 Woburn Street)","architectural_style":"Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Shingle, Stick, Greek Revival, Italianate, Federal, Craftsman, High Victorian Gothic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The neighborhood is still used as a residential area for upper middle-class professionals and businessmen, and houses and setting have remained largely unchanged since construction.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.798297-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/7907/63790765/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85000551.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000551/febffb43d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000551/febffb43d4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corner_of_Woburn_St_and_Summer_Ave,_Reading_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corner_of_Woburn_St_and_Summer_Ave,_Reading_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63790765","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woburn_Street_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8028980"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/woburn-street-historic-district-85000551/"}