Arlington-Basswood Historic District

Arlington-Basswood is a compact neighborhood of about 89 properties in northeastern Lawrence, Massachusetts, covering six blocks and 10.74 acres. Nearly all of it consists of wood-frame three-decker houses built between 1909 and 1925, with a few cottages and two-family homes. Typical buildings rise three stories under flat roofs with bracketed cornices, clapboard and shingle siding, and tall front porches with Doric columns, in a Classical Revival manner. The land was once farmland, later bought by a land agent for the Arlington Mills to house workers. When the mill expanded, the parcel was auctioned in 1909 as 112 lots with graded streets and sewer connections. Close to streetcar lines and a school, it filled quickly with working-class families employed in local mills. Three-deckers are less common in Lawrence than in Fall River or Worcester, so this uniform, nearly continuous streetscape is notable. It was listed for its architectural cohesion and its record of working-class housing in a textile city.