Lawton Place Historic District

Lawton Place is a short street in Waltham Center holding four buildings tied to the Boston Manufacturing Company, the first full-process textile mill in the United States. Three double houses on the south side date from about 1817 and were built as boarding houses for mill workers. They were moved to the street in 1889 from the edge of Waltham Common. They are boxy two-and-a-half-story buildings with six-bay facades, paired center entries and two rear ells, and later siding and entry changes. The 1889 rowhouse on the north side holds twelve units and was the last of the company's row-housing type, which began with the 1816 Long Block, demolished when the houses were moved. The Waltham houses served as the prototype for boarding houses at Lowell's Merrimack Manufacturing Company. The street follows a former garden path on the estate of George Lawton, a company executive. The district was listed for its association with early industrial worker housing and for its architecture, with an exception for moved buildings.