Merrill Double House
Why it's listed
Built around 1879 at 18-20 West Street in Worcester, this brick double house is arranged symmetrically around a center party wall. It rises two and one-half stories and shows Victorian Gothic character through paired entries under a porch with foliate-capital columns, flanking bay windows, steep bargeboarded gables and jerkinhead dormers. Side bays climb to a wood-sheathed third story under steep roofs. Its most unusual feature is the cast-stone trim, used for window lintels, sills and foundation facings. Worcester makers were producing such concrete trim in the 1870s, but this is the earliest building with it that has been identified. The heirs of Enoch Merrill, a variety-store owner whose own home once occupied the site, apparently built the house as an investment. Its first occupant at number 18 was William A. Denholm, a dry-goods merchant who founded the Boston Store, later the city's largest department store. The house remains unaltered and in residential use, and it resembles several frame doubles of the early 1880s on the West Side.
Significance in brief: The form calls it an excellent, unaltered local example of Victorian Gothic architecture. Its cast-stone (concrete) trim on lintels, sills and foundation facings is extremely unusual, and it is the earliest building with concrete trim identified in Worcester. It was also home to William A. Denholm, founder of the Boston Store, later the city's largest department store.
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 80000581, listed March 5, 1980. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 18-20 West St., Worcester |
|---|---|
| County | Worcester County |
| Listed | March 5, 1980 |
| Reference number | 80000581 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Victorian Gothic |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | State, Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Present use is residential; the form describes the building as unaltered and not moved. |
| Acreage | 0.2 |
| Coordinates | 42.26501, -71.80957 (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 80000581.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6820184
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.