Bellingham Square Historic District Chelsea MA 01

Bellingham Square Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

encompassing the civic and commercial heart of Chelsea, Massachusetts. Roughly bounded by Broadway, Shawmut, Chestnut, and Shurtleff Streets, the district was almost entirely built in the aftermath of the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908, and is a monument to the civic planning that took place at the time. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Description and history

Bellingham Square is centered on the six-way junction of Broadway, Washington Avenue, Bellingham Street, Hawthorn Street, and 5th Street. The historic district radiates away from this junction and the adjacent City Hall to include civic commercial and residential buildings. The square is home to the Chelsea Public Library and a satellite facility of

Bunker Hill Community College Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is a public community college with multiple campuses in the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1973 in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, BHCC provides higher education and job training servi ...

, located in the former post office. Chelsea was settled by English colonists in 1624, and was made part of Boston after that city was founded in 1630. It was separately incorporated in 1739, and developed in the 19th century as an industrial center, based first around wooden shipbuilding and then other industries. It was reincorporated as a city in 1857. On April 12, 1908, the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908 destroyed the city's commercial and civic heart, as well as 3,000 structures in a area. In the wake of this disaster, the state assumed control of the city, and set in motion a modern (for the period) urban planning process to rebuild the fire-ravaged area. New codes governing zoning, building inspection and construction, and fire codes were introduced, and land use of the affected areas was planned. Major architects designed the city's iconic city hall (

Peabody and Stearns Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns J ...

), library, and post office (both Guy Lowell). The city's then-sizable Jewish population was recognized in the construction of the Chelsea Free Hebrew School, designed by Jewish architect Samuel Eisenberg.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Chelsea, Massachusetts Squares in the United States Geography of Suffolk County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Chelsea, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References