American Woolen Mill Housing District

Nine wood-frame tenements on Market Street in South Lawrence make up this housing group, completed in 1909 for the American Woolen Company and designed by local architect James E. Allen. The three-story buildings are arranged symmetrically, each half mirroring the other, yet five different designs and angled placement give variety. Queen Anne and Colonial Revival details include pedimented entries, fluted pilasters, bay windows, twenty-five-pane upper sash, and bands of patterned shingles. The layout gave residents more light and air while keeping lot density high, and lawns, trees, shrubs and iron fencing once framed an inner court. The complex provided homes for the families of 36 company employees as part of a 1906-1910 expansion that added 142 residential units in South Lawrence. It is significant as an example of corporate paternalism and as a cohesive planned group. Allen later designed many homes in Shawsheen Village. These tenements remain the best preserved of the company's earlier housing.