{"nrhp_refnum":"86000495","name":"Sherborn Center Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Zion's Ln., Conrail RR tracks, Farm and Sawin Sts., and Washington and N. Main Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sherborn","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.24161900000004,"lon":-71.37007612546202,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Politics/Government","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about 85 acres at the convergence of Main Street, Maple Street, Washington Street and Farm Road in Sherborn, Massachusetts, containing thirty-one properties (twenty-five contributing) dating from about 1680 to 1925.","why_significant":"The district has been the focus of Sherborn's religious, political, educational and social life since the 1680s. It keeps much of its rural village character and has well-preserved 19th and early 20th century buildings. It also includes work by local master builders Ebenezer Mann and Bowen Adams.","narrative":"Sherborn Center is an 85-acre village core in Sherborn, Massachusetts, where four main roads meet. Its development began with the First Parish Church's first meetinghouse in the early 1680s, and the area became the town's religious, political, educational and social heart. Of thirty-one properties, twenty-five contribute to its character. Most buildings are wooden and no more than two and a half stories tall. They include Federal houses by local builders Bowen Adams and Ebenezer Mann, Greek Revival dwellings and a Greek Revival church with an octagonal steeple. The Italianate Town Hall of 1859 was designed by Elbridge Boyden. Others are the Italianate-style George H. Clark villa, the Tudor Revival Dowse Memorial Building of 1914, the Central Burying Ground founded in the late 1680s, and Cyrus Dallin's Memory Statue. Stone walls and the semirural setting preserve the character of a New England hamlet from early settlement to the mid 20th century.","period_of_significance":"1680-1925","architect_builder":"Ebenezer Mann, Bowen Adams, Hiram Jones, Elbridge Boyden, Pray, Hubbard and White, Alexander Rice Esty (probable), Cyrus Dallin (sculptor), William Ware Dinsmore","architectural_style":"Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Georgian, Tudor Revival, Georgian Revival and Victorian styles","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Most buildings are well preserved; a few modern commercial buildings are intrusions, and the Straw Hat Factory has lost its architectural integrity. Sawin Academy was demolished in 1962.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.870062-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/7920/63792000/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86000495.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000495/5e59f6c4a8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000495/5e59f6c4a8-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sherborn_Center.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792000","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherborn_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7494716"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/sherborn-center-historic-district-86000495/"}