Pine Ridge Road-Plainfield Street Historic District

This residential district in eastern Waban, Newton, contains 44 houses on Pine Ridge Road, Plainfield Street and neighboring streets, with boundaries roughly at Avalon Street, Upland Road, Plainfield Street and Chestnut Street. The land was part of the 42-acre Hyde Farm, which developers Charles J. Page and Frederick Henshaw bought and subdivided into 87 lots in 1886, the year the Circuit Railroad opened and established Waban village. Houses went up from the 1890s into the 1930s, with especially brisk building in the early twentieth century. The area shows a range of styles: Queen Anne and Shingle houses from the first phase, followed by Colonial Revival, Craftsman and Tudor Revival designs. Notable examples include brick Colonial Revival houses on Pine Ridge and Upland Roads and a half-timbered Tudor Revival house at 45 Plainfield Street. Residents were generally business and professional people, and several architects lived there, including Thomas M. James and Gifford LeClear. The district was recognized for this village history and its architectural cohesion.