{"nrhp_refnum":"86001681","name":"Follen Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1--44 and 5--29 Follen St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.37868450000005,"lon":-71.12239678316323,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-05-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-block, L-shaped residential street in Old Cambridge, Massachusetts, lined with seventeen single-family houses built mainly between 1837 and 1900, covering about 4.9 acres.","why_significant":"The street contains nearly every major late nineteenth-century residential style except Gothic Revival, including work by several noted architects (Criterion C). It illustrates Cambridge's development in the 1840s (Criterion A). It is also associated with Harvard professors, scientists and the Longy School of Music (Criterion B).","narrative":"Follen Street is a quiet, shaded, single-block street in Old Cambridge, cut off from through traffic and lined with seventeen single-family houses. Laid out in sections in 1836 and 1848, it grew as building activity picked up after Cambridge's first railroad station opened. Several Greek Revival houses from 1837 to 1847 show that early phase, and later houses add Italianate, Mansard, Stick Style, Romanesque Revival and Colonial Revival designs. Architects represented include Longfellow, Alden and Harlow, Peabody and Stearns, Guy Lowell, and Warren, Smith & Biscoe. The street has long been home to Harvard professors. Josiah Dwight Whitney, for whom Mount Whitney is named, rented 29 Follen Street, where astronomers Gould and Winlock also lived and set up a small observatory. The granite house at 1 Follen Street, built in 1889, has housed the Longy School of Music since 1937. Three modern houses at the east end are included so the district covers both sides of the whole street.","period_of_significance":"1837-1900","architect_builder":"Longfellow, Alden and Harlow (1 Follen St.); Peabody and Stearns (10 Follen St.); Guy Lowell (13 Follen St.); Warren, Smith & Biscoe (15 Follen St.); Moses and Jerediah Ricker (5 Follen St.); Charles Saunders (9 Follen St.); Huygens and Tappe (1968 addition)","architectural_style":"Varied late nineteenth-century residential styles: Greek Revival, Bracketed Italianate, Mansard, Romanesque Revival, Stick Style, Colonial Revival, Neo-Georgian","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The street is described as a quiet residential neighborhood with a high level of maintenance; three 20th-century houses at the east end are non-contributing. The Longy School of Music occupies 1 Follen St.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.058641-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/96/7919/63791996/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001681.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001681/3f4a202e0c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001681/3f4a202e0c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"User:Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CambridgeMA_FollenStreetHD_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791996","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follen_Street_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5464639"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/follen-street-historic-district-86001681/"}