{"nrhp_refnum":"96001063","name":"Douglass, Frederick, Square Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Hammond St., Cobat St., Windsor St., and Westminister St., Lower Roxbury","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.33588050000006,"lon":-71.0836961377972,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-10-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-acre district of 116 contributing brick row houses and apartment blocks in Lower Roxbury, Boston, built mainly between 1866 and 1890 on filled tidal marsh near Frederick Douglass Square.","why_significant":"It is the sole surviving fragment of one of Boston's last private landfill and subdivision ventures. It holds a concentration of philanthropic row houses financed by social reformer Robert Treat Paine, Jr., with 77 attributed to him and designed by George W. Pope. The nearby square also served as a forum for political rallies and Civil Rights protests in a Black community.","narrative":"Lower Roxbury's Frederick Douglass Square Historic District is a compact five-acre pocket of brick row houses and apartment blocks, built on tidal marsh that the Tremont Improvement Company drained and filled in the late 1860s. Less than one-sixth of the original subdivision survives, since urban renewal demolition in the late 1960s cleared most of the neighborhood. The remaining 116 buildings are mostly two- and three-story Panel Brick and Queen Anne row houses. Seventy-seven were financed between 1886 and 1890 by Robert Treat Paine, Jr., a social reformer who believed housing for working families should be sanitary and also attractive. Architect George W. Pope gave the small side-passage houses bow fronts, pressed metal oriels, terra-cotta plaques and corbelled cornices. The district takes its name from the nearby square honoring Frederick Douglass, which became a gathering place for political rallies and Civil Rights protests in a largely African-American community. It is recognized for its architecture, community planning and social history.","period_of_significance":"C. 1866-1946","architect_builder":"George W. Pope (architect for Robert Treat Paine, Jr.); J. Fagan (speculative developer); see continuation sheet","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire; Queen Anne; High Victorian Gothic; Late 19th Century Revival: Federal Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Surviving fragment of a larger subdivision, surrounded by 1970s public housing; the rows are largely intact with some alterations such as replacement windows and siding. Row houses and apartment buildings remain in use as housing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.458612-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/7968/63796877/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/96001063.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001063/83581885bc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001063/83581885bc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"Tim Pierce, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Douglass_Square_Roxbury_MA_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796877","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass_Square_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5497676"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/douglass-frederick-square-historic-district-96001063/"}