{"nrhp_refnum":"90000020","name":"Newton City Hall and War Memorial","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1000 Commonwealth Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.33695839200007,"lon":-71.20826921542502,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-02-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Georgian Revival civic building at 1000 Commonwealth Avenue in Newton Centre, Newton, Massachusetts, built in 1931-32 as both City Hall and a World War I memorial. Allen & Collens designed it, and Olmsted Brothers designed the landscape.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it reflects Newton's growth as a city and its civic pride, and that it is an important work of architecture by the noted firm Allen & Collens. It won the Boston Society of Architects' J. Harleston Parker Award in 1936. Its park-like setting by Olmsted Brothers adds to its value. It is marked as meeting criteria A and C.","narrative":"Newton City Hall and War Memorial is a large brick Georgian Revival building on a triangular site of nearly ten acres at Commonwealth Avenue, Walnut Street and Homer Street. Built in 1931-32, it replaced an older town hall in West Newton that had served as City Hall for 59 years. The building has two major facades, one for the War Memorial and one for the City Hall, each with a pedimented portico and steeple. Even the Aldermanic Chamber follows Independence Hall in Philadelphia as a model. Allen & Collens designed it, and Olmsted Brothers of Brookline laid out the grounds, including a pond that reflects the City Hall side. Construction took place during the Depression, and the mayor noted that 80 percent of the workers were Newton residents. The building was dedicated on Armistice Day, 1932, and won the Boston Society of Architects' J. Harleston Parker Award in 1936 as the most beautiful building of its period.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Allen & Collens (architects); Olmsted Brothers (landscape)","architectural_style":"Georgian Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition with no major alterations; present use is City Hall and War Memorial.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.229614-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/34/7920/63792034/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/90000020.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000020/f3a7cd22f0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000020/f3a7cd22f0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newton_City_Hall,_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</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:Newton_City_Hall,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792034","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_City_Hall_and_War_Memorial","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895835"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/newton-city-hall-and-war-memorial-90000020/"}