Cottage-Freeman Historic District

This residential district in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, covers about 11 acres beside the Ten Mile River and includes Cottage Street, Freeman Street, Park Lane and part of Commonwealth Avenue. It has 39 contributing buildings, nearly all wood-frame houses, most of them 1½ stories with end-gable roofs. Two late Federal houses on Park Lane date to about 1835, while most of the rest were built between 1870 and 1890. Every house has a documented link to the local jewelry industry, whether built or owned by a jewelry company or manufacturer, or occupied by a jewelry worker. Most were privately owned by individuals rather than companies, a pattern typical of urbanizing areas. The houses follow two basic plans, a symmetrical center-entrance type and an asymmetrical side-hall type, and show styles such as Gothic Revival and mansard-roofed cottages. The district was listed for its role in community development and for its representative late 19th-century domestic architecture.