Eastern Middlesex County Second District Court
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The Eastern Middlesex County Second District Court is a historic courthouse of the
Massachusetts District Court The Massachusetts District Court (also known as the District Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court in Massachusetts that hears a wide range of criminal, civil, housing, juvenile, mental health, and other types of cases. Distr ...
at 38 Linden Street in Waltham,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. Built in 1938-40, it is one of three
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
buildings in the city, and its most fully realized example of the style. The building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1989.


Description and history

The Eastern Middlesex County Second District Court is located on the north side of Linden Street, just north of Main Street ( United States Route 20) in eastern Waltham. It is a two-story building, built out of yellow brick with cast stone trim, set on a raised foundation. A pavilion projects slightly from the center of the main facade, with a flight of steps leading to the entrance, flanked by tall stone "shoulders" with distinctive ram's head lamps. The pavilion has three tall bays, demarcated by cast stone pillars, with window openings filled with glass bricks, and the main entrance with heavy double doors at the center. The pavilion is topped by a pyramidal roof with skylight. The interior lobby space has mosaic tile walls. The building was designed by Charles R. Greco, a
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
native, whose firm provided designs for a number of area courthouses and armories. This courthouse was built 1938-40, and was the first major expansion of the Eastern District court, which had previously sat only in the courthouse in East Cambridge. It is Waltham's most elaborate example of
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
architecture.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Waltham, Massachusetts This is a list of properties and historic districts in Waltham, Massachusetts, that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The locations of National Register properties and districts (at least for all showing latitude and longit ...


References


External links


Waltham District Court web site
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Waltham, Massachusetts Government buildings completed in 1938 County courthouses in Massachusetts Art Deco architecture in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Waltham, Massachusetts