{"nrhp_refnum":"86001272","name":"Bennink-Douglas Cottages","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"35--51 Walker St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.37996528200006,"lon":-71.12345905699993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-05-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Four nearly identical double Mansard-style workers' cottages at 35-51 Walker Street in Old Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1874 by builders G.J. (Gerritt L.) Bennink and W.G. (William G.) Douglas.","why_significant":"The cottages are cited under Criterion C as a distinguishable group showing the characteristics of the Mansard cottage type, and under Criterion A for illustrating the development of low- and middle-income double houses in Cambridge after the Civil War. They are described as a rare grouping of double Mansard cottages in Old Cambridge and retain a high degree of integrity.","narrative":"Four double cottages at 35-51 Walker Street in Old Cambridge form a small group of Mansard-style workers' housing built in 1874. Each is one story over a brick foundation, with a full mansard roof, scored flush boarding on the street front, and clapboards on the sides and rear. Paired paneled doors sit between projecting bays, and decoration is limited to doorway brackets and scalloped or hexagonal slates. The builders, house carpenter Gerritt L. Bennink and builder William G. Douglas, bought the lots from the subdivided Stearns pasture after Walker Street was laid out in 1868. None of the houses had sold by 1876, possibly because of the Panic of 1873. The group reflects Cambridge's rapid post-Civil War growth and the use of double houses on small lots as an affordable answer to housing demand. It was listed for its architecture as a rare cluster of double Mansard cottages and for what it shows about multi-family housing development. The original steps are gone, and one pair has a Colonial Revival porch.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"G.J. Bennink & W.G. Douglas, builders","architectural_style":"Mansard","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is residential; the form reports no major alterations, though the original steps are gone and 49-51 has a Colonial Revival porch.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.274269-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7917/63791795/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001272.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001272/0113b21cd5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001272/0113b21cd5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_BenninkDouglasCottages.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:CambridgeMA_BenninkDouglasCottages.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791795","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennink-Douglas_Cottages","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4889895"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/bennink-douglas-cottages-86001272/"}