Union Street Historic District
Also known as: See Also:Newton Center Station
Why it's listed
Union Street Historic District is a compact commercial area in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, organized around the commuter railroad station. Before improved rail service, Newton Centre had little development, with fewer than ten buildings near the common. After the Boston & Albany Railroad upgraded the line, the station was completed in 1890 by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge following H.H. Richardson's death. It has granite and brownstone walls and a large overhanging slate roof. New commercial buildings followed. Mellen Bray, an inventor and investor, built Bray's Block in 1893, a buff brick Classical Revival building that once held an assembly hall, a bowling alley, offices and shops. The Union Building of 1896 is Georgian Revival. Bray also built Bradford Court in 1913, the village's first apartment building. The district is considered the city's best surviving cluster of nineteenth-century commercial buildings and shows how a small business center developed around a suburban depot.
Significance in brief: The district is described as one of the city's only intact clusters of late nineteenth-century commercial buildings. It shows how a small business district grew up around a suburban railroad depot. The form cites Criteria A and 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 86001763, listed September 4, 1986. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly Union St. between Langley Rd. and Herrick St., and 17--31 Herrick St., Newton |
|---|---|
| County | Middlesex County |
| Listed | September 4, 1986 |
| Reference number | 86001763 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Newton Centre Station completed by Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge after H.H. Richardson's death; landscaping by F.L. Olmsted; Bray's Block built by Mellen Bray |
| Architectural style | Richardsonian (station), Classical Revival (Bray's Block), Georgian Revival (Union Building), Jacobean Revival (Bradford Court) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State, Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | General condition is given as very good; present use is commercial. The Baggage & Express Building was demolished in 1985 and the original Olmsted landscaping does not survive. |
| Acreage | 1.8 |
| Coordinates | 42.32953, -71.19308 (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 86001763.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7886137
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.