{"nrhp_refnum":"86001504","name":"Richardson Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"113--151 Pearl and 109--119 High Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.355247261000045,"lon":-71.05420744499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-08-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of nine attached marble and brick commercial buildings at 113-151 Pearl Street and 109-119 High Street in Boston's Central Business District, built 1873-1876 with one later addition in 1885.","why_significant":"The block is a distinguished example of Neo-Grec commercial architecture and an early work of Boston architect William Gibbons Preston. It is an early post-Fire block with a rare marble facade and is tied to Boston's leather industry. It survives as a rare group in an area now dominated by modern office towers.","narrative":"Nine attached commercial buildings on Pearl and High Streets in Boston's Central Business District make up the Richardson Block. Eight of them have marble fronts and brick side and rear walls, and were built between 1873 and 1876 from designs by William G. Preston in the Neo-Grec style. They share incised floral ornament, continuous sill courses and varied pedimented or arched window heads. A red brick Victorian Commercial building at 115-117 Pearl Street, added in 1885 by builder George W. Pope, breaks the pattern. Individual owners built on their own parcels within a single design. The block rose just after the great fire of 1872 in the district's leather and shoe trade area, and early occupants were mostly hide, leather, and boot and shoe dealers. By 1889 many tenants sold novelties and patent medicines. Although some storefronts and windows have been altered, it remains a rare modest marble Neo-Grec commercial group among modern high-rise towers.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William G. Preston; George W. Pope","architectural_style":"Neo-Grec (115-117 Pearl Street is Victorian Commercial)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Altered: many storefronts are obscured by modern facades, and original windows have been replaced in several buildings. The form lists the property as occupied and in commercial use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.311439-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/7967/63796750/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001504.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001504/e69a3949b4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001504/e69a3949b4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richardson_Block_Boston_MA_02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Richardson_Block_Boston_MA_02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796750","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7330323"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/richardson-block-86001504/"}