West Gardner Square Historic District

West Gardner Square Historic District is a 34-acre area in north-central Gardner, Massachusetts, a city long known for furniture manufacturing. It centers on a star-shaped intersection where Central, West Lynde, Parker, Vernon and Main Streets meet. The district combines a commercial core of one- to five-story brick blocks, an industrial section with three factory complexes, a landscaped civic area along Pleasant Street, and a few early houses on Pine Street. About forty-eight buildings and the three factory complexes are counted, mostly from the early 20th century and largely Classical or Colonial Revival in inspiration. Its importance comes from how fully it records Gardner's commercial, civic and industrial growth, especially the prosperity of the 1920s when furniture makers such as Heywood-Wakefield employed thousands. Unlike surrounding neighborhoods that lost buildings to alteration and demolition, the district kept its architectural integrity. Four properties within it were already individually listed before the district was recognized.