Chesterfield Center Historic District
Why it's listed
Chesterfield Center is the civic heart of a hill town in western Massachusetts, laid out along a crossroads of Main Road with North and South Streets. The district includes the First Congregational Church, the Methodist Church, the Grange Hall, town offices, a library, a museum, a post office and a general store, surrounded by houses with barns, carriage houses and other outbuildings. Its buildings trace the town's growth from a Georgian Cape of about 1775 through Federal houses such as the 1822 Starkweather House, with its reeded corner pilasters, to Greek Revival churches and homes of the 1830s to 1850s. Connected farm buildings show how households organized their farmyards. Prominent early residents, including a lawyer and the town's first physician, helped shape the civic focus of the center. The district contains 81 contributing resources, among them the Center Cemetery, and its significance period runs to 1958.
Significance in brief: The district is the institutional and civic core of Chesterfield, with its church, Grange Hall, town offices, library, museum and post office. It preserves a range of architectural styles from Georgian and Federal through Greek Revival and later Victorian and Colonial Revival, including connected farm buildings typical of New England. Its period of significance ends in 1958, and resources built after that date are counted as noncontributing.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 08001177, listed December 11, 2008. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Main Rd., S. St., N. St., Bagg Rd., Bryant St., Chesterfield |
|---|---|
| County | Hampshire County |
| Listed | December 11, 2008 |
| Reference number | 08001177 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | Ends in 1958 (start date not shown in the provided text) |
| Architectural style | Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italian Villa, Gothic, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival |
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Community Planning and Development |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still in use for homes, a church, Grange Hall, town offices, library, museum, post office and a general store; a few resources have been altered or lost. |
| Acreage | 273.6 |
| Coordinates | 42.39510, -72.84980 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 08001177.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q16890269
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.