{"nrhp_refnum":"89002255","name":"Mystic Pumping Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Alewife Brook Pkwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Somerville","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.41509126100004,"lon":-71.13047831499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-01-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one and one-half story, mansard-roofed brick pumping station on Alewife Brook Parkway in Somerville, Massachusetts, built 1862-1865 by the City of Charlestown as part of the Mystic Water Works.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant for its association with the Mystic Water Works and as a representative of a mid-nineteenth century small, integrated municipal water supply system. It retains integrity of location, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and design. It is one of three components of the otherwise out-of-service system that still retains integrity.","narrative":"Built between 1862 and 1865 by the City of Charlestown, this brick pumping station on Alewife Brook Parkway in Somerville supplied water as part of the Mystic Water Works. The one and one-half story, mansard-roofed building has a symmetrical nine-bay main block with load-bearing brick walls. A two-bay wing was added in 1870 and a four-bay wing in 1895, both to house additional steam engines and both matching the original Second Empire design. The station was built smaller than first designed because of construction costs and originally held two Worthington steam engines. Boston took it over when it annexed Charlestown in 1874, and the Metropolitan Water Board later operated it. The engines were removed in 1912, and the building was later used for offices and research, then renovated in 1921 when its chimney was demolished. It is now a maintenance shop and office. It was listed as a well-preserved example of a small nineteenth-century municipal water supply facility, even though the wider system is no longer in service.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"George N. Baldwin; Charles I. Stevenson","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Condition good; used today by the MDC as a maintenance office and shop.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.109685-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7912/63791254/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89002255.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002255/075059fab5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002255/075059fab5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SomervilleMA_MysticWaterWorks.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:SomervilleMA_MysticWaterWorks.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791254","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic_Water_Works","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715737"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/mystic-pumping-station-89002255/"}