{"nrhp_refnum":"86003436","name":"US Post Office-Woburn Center Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Abbott St. (formerly 2 Abbott St.)","address_restricted":false,"city":"Woburn","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.48160451700005,"lon":-71.06862025799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-10-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Neo-Classical post office building at 2 Abbott Street on the northern edge of Woburn Common in Woburn, Massachusetts, constructed in 1911 and dedicated in 1912 to designs by Treasury Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building has integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship, and is tied to the development of the Woburn Common area. It exemplifies Taylor's return to classical design for federal buildings. It is also locally significant as a symbol of the Federal Presence.","narrative":"Woburn's Center Station post office, at 2 Abbott Street, was built in 1911 on the north side of Woburn Common and dedicated in 1912. James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, designed it in a formal Neo-Classical style. Its nine-bay front has a projecting center entrance with Doric columns, a sandstone veneer over a granite foundation, and a balustraded parapet. Inside, the lobby has nine plastered barrel vaults, a shallow central dome and the original terrazzo floor. A 1939 addition extended the rear workroom and added a mail platform. The building was listed because it exemplifies Taylor's classical approach to federal architecture and because of its role in the growth of the Common area. It was the first new construction there and gave the town a permanent home for a post office that had moved about fifteen times since 1797. The nomination cites criteria A and C.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"James Knox Taylor, Sup. Arch't.; Addition 1939: Louis A. Simon/W.G. Noll","architectural_style":"Neo-Classical","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Marked as publicly owned and occupied; the form describes it as a well preserved example of early twentieth century post office design.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.410883-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/7956/63795610/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86003436.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003436/79822338b8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003436/79822338b8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Post_Office,_Woburn_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Post_Office,_Woburn_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795610","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office%E2%80%93Woburn_Center_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891184"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/us-post-office-woburn-center-station-86003436/"}