Common District
Why it's listed
Wakefield's Common District covers about 25 acres around the Town Common at the southern end of Lake Quannapowitt. The common was set aside by Puritan settlers in the seventeenth century, when the area was part of old Reading, and it has served as the town's civic and religious center ever since. Its protected limits were fixed by town vote in 1741. Around the green stand four churches in Romanesque Revival, Italianate, Stick and Tudor Revival styles, along with the Town Hall, which began as an Italianate high school in about 1871 and was converted in 1938. Twentieth-century public buildings include the Y.M.C.A., the Lucius Beebe Library and the Post Office. Federal brick houses from the early 1800s line Main Street. The common also holds a bandstand and the Rockery from 1884-85, war memorials, and the Old Burial Ground dating to 1688-89. The district was listed for its architectural variety and its long record as the town's center.
Significance in brief: The area has been the civic and ecclesiastical focus of the community for over 300 years, beginning as the site of the first meetinghouse and burying ground of old Reading. It keeps a varied group of buildings in Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Romanesque Revival and Neo-Renaissance styles. The nomination argues it retains integrity and meets Criterion C.
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 89000754, listed March 2, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Lake Quannapowitt, Main St., Common St., Church St., and Lake Ave., Wakefield |
|---|---|
| County | Middlesex County |
| Listed | March 2, 1990 |
| Reference number | 89000754 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1640-1940 |
| Architect / builder | Hartwell and Richardson (First Parish Congregational Church); Cram and Ferguson (Lucius Beebe Library); Louis A. Simon (Post Office); John Stevens (former high school, now Town Hall); Ernest Bowditch (Rockery) |
| Architectural style | Mixed styles including Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Stick Style, Romanesque Revival, Tudor Revival, Neo-Colonial and Neo-Renaissance |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | General condition is stated as good; present use is residential and institutional. Intrusions are minimal, limited to four recent residences. |
| Acreage | 25 |
| Coordinates | 42.50782, -71.07207 (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 89000754.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5153332
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.