Revere Beach Reservation Historic District
Why it's listed
Revere Beach Reservation is a linear public beach district along the Atlantic Ocean in Revere, Massachusetts, about six miles northeast of downtown Boston. The state has owned and operated the three-mile beach as a public beach since 1895, when it was created under a plan by landscape designer Charles Eliot. Eliot's plan moved a railroad from the crest of the dune, replaced it with Revere Beach Boulevard, and cleared private buildings from the sand. The district counts twelve contributing resources: the beach, a police station, a superintendent's house, a bandstand and eight pavilions. Charles Austin of Stickney and Austin designed the structures. The bandstand and first four pavilions date to 1897, the remaining four pavilions to 1905. The police station followed in 1899 in the Italian Renaissance style, and the superintendent's house in 1905. The pavilions were restored in 1994 after damage from the blizzard of 1978. The former bath house was demolished in 1962.
Significance in brief: The district preserves the three-mile public beach and the 1890s-1900s structures built under Charles Eliot's plan for the Metropolitan Park Commission. The bandstand, pavilions, police station and superintendent's house were designed by Charles Austin of Stickney and Austin. The reservation was an early public seaside park in the metropolitan area.
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 98000871, listed July 15, 1998. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Eliot Circle, Revere Beach Blvd., Northern Circle, and Atlantic Ocean, Revere |
|---|---|
| County | Suffolk County |
| Listed | July 15, 1998 |
| Reference number | 98000871 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Charles Austin of Stickney and Austin (designer of the bandstand, pavilions, police station and superintendent's house); landscape plan by Charles Eliot |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian - Renaissance (Victorian Eclectic pavilions; Italian Renaissance police station and superintendent's house) |
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Architecture, Landscape Architecture |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Police station leased to the state police; beach operated as a public beach; pavilions restored in 1994. |
| Acreage | 60 |
| Coordinates | 42.41879, -70.98667 (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 98000871.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.