{"nrhp_refnum":"89002371","name":"Houghton Street Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Houghton St. between Palm and Dorchester Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.25277850000003,"lon":-71.7851224931778,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-02-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","European","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small residential historic district on Houghton Street and Dorchester Street in the Grafton Hill area of Worcester, Massachusetts, with 7 three-decker houses and 3 garages built between about 1920 and 1926, covering 1.13 acres.","why_significant":"The district is argued to be significant as a fashionable, ethnically mixed, skilled blue-collar and white-collar three-decker suburban subdivision of the 1920s. It is also an unusually well-preserved group of ornate Colonial Revival three-deckers, one of the outstanding groupings to survive in the city. It meets criteria A and C at the local level.","narrative":"Houghton Street Historic District is a compact group of seven three-decker houses and three cinder block garages in Worcester's Grafton Hill area, built between about 1920 and 1926. The houses are Colonial Revival in style and are notable for their ornate detailing, unusual massing and three-tier front porches, many with pedimented gables, brackets and stained-glass bay windows. Only 63 Houghton Street has lost its integrity, because of modern siding. The district reflects the eastward spread of three-decker construction along the Grafton Street corridor in the 1920s. Its early residents were skilled blue-collar and white-collar families who moved from the city's older East Side neighborhoods. In 1930 most residents were members of the Jewish community, with Irish, French-Canadian and Armenian families also living there. The district is regarded as one of the best surviving collections of ornate Colonial Revival three-deckers in the city, and it was listed for its architecture and its place in Worcester's suburban housing development.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1920-1926","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"General condition is described as fair to excellent; present use is residential. 65 Houghton Street shows serious deterioration, while 147 Dorchester Street is in excellent condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.036499-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/5/7933/63793305/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89002371.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002371/35038d6f2b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002371/35038d6f2b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corner_of_Palm_and_Houghton,_Worcester_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corner_of_Palm_and_Houghton,_Worcester_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793305","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houghton_Street_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5912985"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/houghton-street-historic-district-89002371/"}