{"nrhp_refnum":"89001500","name":"North Lexington Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"508--536 N. Lexington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waltham","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.393229064000025,"lon":-71.23798520199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small residential historic district of four houses and a large dairy barn along Lexington Street in Waltham, Massachusetts, built between 1865 and about 1910 and covering 3.17 acres.","why_significant":"It is an intact group of turn-of-the-century dwellings and outbuildings, most tied to the Childs family dairy business. The dairy barn is described as a rare surviving example of its type in Waltham. The houses retain Italianate, Mansard and Colonial Revival features despite some aluminum siding. The district meets criteria A and C.","narrative":"Along a busy stretch of Lexington Street in Waltham stand four large houses and a dairy barn that together recall a family milk business. The land was bought in 1681 by Jonathan Sanderson, but building began only after 1865, when blacksmith Elias B. Armstrong built the Italianate house at 508 Lexington. William G. Childs followed in 1873 with a Mansard house, moving his milk business there from Pond Street. His sons Arthur and William B. Childs built Colonial Revival houses on either side, in 1901 and between 1904 and 1907, and expanded the dairy after their father's death in 1902. Of the large complex of farm buildings behind the houses, only the barn, with twin cupolas and largely original clapboards, remains. The Childs Brothers business shifted partly to Somerville in the 1920s and closed in 1929. The district is notable because such a cohesive group of period houses and outbuildings is unusual on this now-modernized road.","period_of_significance":"1860-1915","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate, Mansard, Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is residential; general condition is described as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.807341-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/41/7919/63791941/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001500.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001500/fe54804237-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001500/fe54804237-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalthamMA_NorthLexingtonStreetHD.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:WalthamMA_NorthLexingtonStreetHD.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791941","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Lexington_Street_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7055944"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/north-lexington-street-historic-district-89001500/"}