Center Village District
Also known as: See Also:First Church of Christ, Lancaster
Why it's listed
Center Village is the historic core of Lancaster, Massachusetts, stretching about eight-tenths of a mile along Main Street north of the Nashua River. Eighty-eight numbered buildings surround a rectangular town green, including seventy-one houses and seventeen public buildings. Styles range from Federal and Greek Revival to Italianate, Renaissance Revival, Georgian Revival and Colonial Revival. Its centerpiece is the 1816 meeting house by Charles Bulfinch, now the First Church of Christ Unitarian, regarded as a masterpiece of church design. Boston architect A.W. Longfellow designed the 1908 brick Town Hall, and Herbert Hale designed the 1904 Center School. Lancaster was settled in 1643 and incorporated in 1653, and the railroad arrived in 1849, bringing rapid growth and many small businesses. Most of those businesses are gone, and the center is now mainly residential. The district was listed for the unity of its wood-frame houses, civic buildings and rural setting, which keep a nineteenth century New England character.
Significance in brief: The district is presented as a good example of a New England town that kept its nineteenth century character in an essentially untouched rural setting. Its significance rests on the quality of several buildings, chiefly Bulfinch's Fifth Lancaster Meeting House (First Church of Christ Unitarian) and A.W. Longfellow's Town Hall. The unified vernacular and high-style buildings together form an architecturally significant unit.
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 77000198, listed September 15, 1977. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Irregular pattern along Main St., Lancaster |
|---|---|
| County | Worcester County |
| Listed | September 15, 1977 |
| Reference number | 77000198 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Charles Bulfinch (First Church of Christ Unitarian, 1816); A.W. Longfellow (Town Hall, 1908); Herbert Hale (Center School, 1904); Arland Dirlam (Tercentenary Building, 1953) |
| Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic and Italianate detail, Renaissance Revival, Georgian Revival, neoclassical and Colonial Revival |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Marked as occupied with mixed uses, including private residence, commercial, educational, religious and government. The town center has taken on a residential character as most early small businesses have closed. |
| Acreage | 254 |
| Within district | Centre Village Historic District |
| Coordinates | 42.45691, -71.67583 (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 77000198.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5059443
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.