Merrimack-Middle Streets Historic District (Boundary Increase)

This addition to Lowell's central business district covers thirteen buildings on Market and Central Streets, eleven of them contributing and two not. They date from about 1836 into the early 20th century and show a range of styles: Federal and Greek Revival, Italianate, Colonial Revival, and Art Moderne. Early survivors include the 1837 Old Market House, a Greek Revival brick building financed jointly by Middlesex County and the city, which held market stalls below and courts and police space above, and the Mansur Building of about 1836. Later four-story brick blocks such as the Tyler and Coburn buildings reflect the commercial growth that followed Lowell's rise as a textile city. The extension was listed for its local significance in commerce and architecture. The nomination points to the substantial integrity of the buildings and the few intrusions, though it counts the nine-story Com Fed Building and the altered C.G. Coburn Building as noncontributing.