{"nrhp_refnum":"85003403","name":"Boardman, The","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"39--53 Montana St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"North Adams","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.69247164300003,"lon":-73.10593070099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A block-long Colonial Revival rowhouse of nine units at 39-53 Montana Street in North Adams, Massachusetts, built 1899-1901 and designed by Edwin Thayer Barlow. It was built for developer Walter Penniman and his wife Susan Boardman Penniman.","why_significant":"The building is presented as an unusual design by the city's most important resident architect, Edwin T. Barlow, and as the most elaborately detailed multi-family dwelling in North Adams when built. It is called the finest example of rowhousing built for the middle class in the city. It is judged to retain integrity and to meet Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Nine rowhouses make up this block-long Colonial Revival building at 39-53 Montana Street in North Adams. Hardware merchant and developer Walter Penniman and his wife, Susan Boardman Penniman, built it between 1899 and 1901, starting with four units and adding five more in 1901. Architect Edwin T. Barlow, a Cornell graduate who settled in the city, designed it with a brick and granite first story, a slate gable roof, front gables, dormers and two octagonal corner towers. Each unit has granite porches with Tuscan columns, round-arched recessed entrances, front and rear porches, and third-floor servants' quarters. Early tenants included teachers, a chemist, a newspaper editor and a mason contractor. It stood in a fast-growing neighborhood near the new State Normal School. It was considered the most elaborate multi-family dwelling in North Adams and the finest middle-class rowhouse there. Aluminum siding now covers the second story, but the building still serves as apartments.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Edwin Thayer Barlow (architect); Walter Penniman and Susan Boardman Penniman (developers)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as apartments, its original use. Aluminum siding was added over the clapboard on the second story in the mid 20th century.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.113748-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7892/63789226/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85003403.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003403/4383fc99a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003403/4383fc99a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Boardman_North_Adams_2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</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:The_Boardman_North_Adams_2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789226","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boardman","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7718926"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/boardman-the-85003403/"}