Rockdale Common Housing District
Also known as: Paul Whitin Manufacturing Company Housing District
Why it's listed
Six wood-frame tenements on McBride, Plantation and Taft Streets make up this housing group in Rockdale, a mill village in Northbridge. The Paul Whitin Manufacturing Company built them between about 1880 and 1917 to house workers, many of them French-Canadian immigrants recruited for the textile mill. The oldest is a vernacular Italianate building with decorative gable brackets. Four three-story Colonial Revival triple-deckers, built in 1917, form the dominant mass around a shared open yard, and a six-unit Colonial Revival rowhouse on Taft Street dates from about 1912. The buildings are valued as the best example in the village of company housing from the mill's peak growth, and as the largest and most cohesive cluster of triple-deckers in Rockdale. They show local carpentry and the move toward larger tenement forms. The mill sold the buildings in 1935. At the time of listing they were unoccupied and being renovated as low-income housing, with exteriors to be restored to their original appearance.
Significance in brief: The district is presented as the best surviving grouping of company-built tenements from the textile mill's last and most prosperous growth period. It shows the shift from late 19th-century to early 20th-century tenement design and holds the largest, most cohesive cluster of triple-deckers in Rockdale. It is also the only known cluster of three-story tenements in Northbridge.
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 83000611, listed March 31, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 4-20 McBride, 46-58 Plantation, and 37-42 Taft Sts., Northbridge |
|---|---|
| County | Worcester County |
| Listed | March 31, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83000611 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1880-1917 |
| Architect / builder | Paul Whitin Manufacturing Co. (no particular architect or builder; vernacular design by local carpenters) |
| Architectural style | Italianate to Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Community Planning and Development, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | At the time of the form the buildings were unoccupied and under renovation as low-income family and elderly housing; they had deteriorated but were little altered. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 42.15265, -71.64680 (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 83000611.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14715833
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.