Church Street-Cady Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase)

This district in North Adams, Massachusetts, extends the earlier Church Street Historic District to take in Cady Hill, east of Church Street, and a block each of Quincy and Chestnut Streets to the west. It holds 179 properties, 165 of them contributing, almost all residential and mostly wood-framed houses from 1860 to 1900. Mill owners, merchants, professionals and mill managers built here as the city became the commercial and industrial center of the northern Berkshires. The houses are somewhat more modest than the mansions of Church Street but are well detailed. Styles include Greek Revival cottages, Italianate and Second Empire houses, many Queen Anne and Stick Style homes, and a Gothic Revival cottage. The district also has the city's only pure Shingle Style house and its best Arts and Crafts house. Most buildings were probably built by local contractors rather than architects. The district was listed for its architectural coherence and for its link to the people behind the city's industrial prosperity.