Inman Square Historic District

Inman Square, once called Atwood's Corner until 1875, is a compact commercial district in Cambridge at the meeting of Hampshire, Cambridge and Inman Streets. It is described as the only nineteenth-century commercial square in the city that remains virtually intact. Four buildings define it. The Waite Building (1855-57) was built for Charles Waite, a dry goods importer and major local landowner, and occupies a triangular lot. The Middlesex Bank Building (1874) is a large, prominent reminder of the square's late-century commercial activity. The Queen Anne block of 1894 has four storefronts below apartments, with patterned shingles, decorated bargeboards and original display windows. The 1912 Fire Station carries terra cotta panels tracing the history of fire fighting equipment, and it housed the city's first motor-driven apparatus. Together these buildings preserve the look of a New England commercial center, which is the basis for the district's recognition.