{"nrhp_refnum":"85002782","name":"Russell, The","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"49 Austin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.26081000000005,"lon":-71.80670999999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick apartment block at 49 Austin Street, at the corner of Austin and Irving Streets in Worcester, Massachusetts, built about 1894 to designs by the firm Barker & Nourse.","why_significant":"It is a simple but well-preserved example of Richardsonian Romanesque design by a noted Worcester architectural firm. It also represents the architect-designed apartment blocks of the Main-Wellington-Chandler area, once Worcester's largest district of middle-class apartment construction. It is judged significant at the local level.","narrative":"Built around 1894 at the corner of Austin and Irving Streets, just west of Worcester's central business district, this four-story brick apartment block shows Richardsonian Romanesque design in a modest form. Barker and Nourse, a noted Worcester firm, designed it for Abigail Russell Parsons at a cost of $25,000. Rock-faced granite, brownstone trim, a rounded northeast corner, corbelled brickwork and a heavy arched entrance resting on squat Ionic columns give it a fortress-like look. It replaced an earlier double house and was owner-occupied, with the owner's daughter and son-in-law living on the first floor. Most tenants were middle class. It once belonged to the city's largest district of apartment blocks, along South Main, Wellington and Chandler Streets. Many of those buildings have since been demolished, leaving this one of the few survivors. Alterations are limited to a modern metal front door and a concrete block addition at the rear.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Barker & Nourse","architectural_style":"Classical, Romanesque, Utilitarian (described in the narrative as Richardsonian Romanesque)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as present use apartments, condition fair/good; a rehabilitation was expected in the near future.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.169009-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/7932/63793227/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85002782.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002782/aaa9cd6ea6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002782/aaa9cd6ea6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pvmoutside","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Russell_Worcester_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pvmoutside</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:The_Russell_Worcester_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793227","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russell_(Worcester,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7761883"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/russell-the-85002782/"}