House at 40 Crescent Street
Why it's listed
Set on a hill at the corner of Crescent Street in Wakefield, this 1½-story clapboard house was built in 1839 by Abel F. Hutchinson, a shoe maker who bought the lot in 1836. Its high gable roof runs parallel to the street and projects over a porch carried by four fluted Doric columns. The centered door in the five-bay front has a paneled architrave surround with circle-filled corner blocks, repeated on the sidelights and ten-light transom. Windows reaching the floor at the porch are a typical Greek Revival feature. A one-story rear extension was added around 1860, and a massive rusticated granite retaining wall edges the lot. Shoe making was the town's leading industry before the railroad arrived in 1844, and Hutchinson probably worked for a local manufacturer. Descendants of the builder have continued to occupy and maintain the house. It is valued locally as a distinctive and well-preserved example of its type.
Significance in brief: The form calls it a unique and very carefully preserved Wakefield example of a Greek Revival house form found throughout New England. It retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and is also tied to the town's shoe-making history through its original builder.
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 89000691, listed July 6, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 40 Crescent St., Wakefield |
|---|---|
| County | Middlesex County |
| Listed | July 6, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89000691 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Abel F. Hutchinson |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still used as a dwelling, condition listed as fair, and described as carefully maintained by descendants of the original builder. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 42.50385, -71.06838 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 89000691.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5914309
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.