{"nrhp_refnum":"87000499","name":"Cambridge Common Historic District (Boundary Increase and Decrease)","other_names":["See Also:Cambridge Common Historic District","Cambridge Common"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly NW of Waterhouse St. on Concord Ave. between Garden and Follen Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.376712000000055,"lon":-71.12058008613442,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-01-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district centered on Cambridge Common, a flat, triangular, fenced public park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, together with surrounding churches, institutional buildings, houses and apartment houses. This nomination adjusts the boundaries of an earlier listing.","why_significant":"The district shows about 350 years of change from open common land to an enclosed park in a dense setting, with ties to the settlement of Cambridge and the American Revolution, when the Common was George Washington's army headquarters in 1775-76. It also holds buildings of many periods and types and connections to people important to early Cambridge history.","narrative":"Cambridge Common is a flat, triangular park enclosed by a granite post and rail fence, surrounded by churches, university buildings, houses and early twentieth century apartment houses. It is what remains of common land set aside for public use in 1631, once reaching north to Linnaean Street. George Washington's continental army made its headquarters there in 1775-76. The fence and tree planting date from 1830, an early example of enclosing and improving a public park, and monuments were added later, including a Civil War monument, the Sumner statue by Anne Whitney, and Flagstaff Park. Nearby are Christ Church (1760), the city's oldest surviving religious structure, the Old Burying Ground (1635), and First Church, Unitarian (1833). The boundary change added Farwell Place, a dead-end street of six houses including the c. 1772 James Read House and the 1827 John Nichols House, and removed areas already covered by neighboring districts. The district is significant for settlement, the American Revolution, landscape, religion and architectural variety.","period_of_significance":"1770-1936","architect_builder":"Isaiah Rogers (First Church, Unitarian); Peter Harrison (Christ Church); A. P. Cutting (Harvard Epworth Methodist Church); Oliver Hastings (John Nichols House); William Saunders (One Garden Street); Newhall & Blevins (apartment houses); Peabody & Stearns (Flagstaff Park flagpole base)","architectural_style":"Mixed: Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque and Neo-Colonial","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"General condition is stated as good. Two modern one-story buildings at 23-25 and 27-29 Church Street are noted as intrusions.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.106173-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/79/7922/63792279/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/87000499.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87000499/9752d82b4b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87000499/9752d82b4b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cannons_on_the_Common_-_Cambridge,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cannons_on_the_Common_-_Cambridge,_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73000281","name":"Cambridge Common Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/cambridge-common-historic-district-73000281/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792279","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Common_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5025393"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/cambridge-common-historic-district-boundary-increase-and-decrease-87000499/"}