Upham's Corner Market
Also known as: Farm Market
Why it's listed
Three attached buildings at 600 Columbia Road in Dorchester, Boston, form a crescent-shaped block that once held the Upham's Corner Market. Built between about 1919 and 1926, the buildings share a red brick front with Indiana limestone trim in a restrained Classical Revival style, while the rear elevations are plain and built for loading produce. Brothers John and Paul Cifrino founded the business in 1915, and it grew in stages into a store of more than 50,000 square feet. It sold groceries, meats, baked goods and a wide range of other goods, including a cafeteria, soda fountain and shoe repair shop. Willard M. Bacon designed the 1923 building. In 1926 the Cifrinos cleared six wood-frame houses behind the store for a customer parking lot, said to be the first of its kind for a major Boston-area store. The property was recognized for its commercial importance and its architecture at the local level.
Significance in brief: The market was an early predecessor of the modern supermarket, founded by brothers John and Paul Cifrino, and by the late 1920s it had over 50,000 square feet of retail space. Its Columbia Road facade is a unified, restrained Classical Revival design. Its rear parking lot is described as the first associated with a major store in the Boston 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 90001537, listed October 11, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 600 Columbia Rd., Boston |
|---|---|
| County | Suffolk County |
| Listed | October 11, 1990 |
| Reference number | 90001537 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1919-1933 |
| Architect / builder | Bacon, Willard M. |
| Architectural style | Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival; Jacobean Revival |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Buildings had sat empty and been vandalized, with storefronts boarded in plywood; a laundromat operated at the extreme left end at the time of the form. Interiors were open and water damaged. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Within district | Uphams Corner Historic District |
| Coordinates | 42.31741, -71.06481 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
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 90001537.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7898290
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.