The Main Street and Murray Avenue Historic District of
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
encompasses a collection of stylistically similar apartment houses in the city's Piedmont neighborhood. It includes four properties, two each on Main Street and Murray Avenue, which form a cluster of apartment houses of a style that once lined both streets for greater length. The district 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 v ...
in 2022.
Description and history
Worcester's Piedmont area is southwest of its downtown, with Main Street (
Massachusetts Route 9
Route 9 is a major east–west state highway in Massachusetts. Along with U.S. Route 20 (US 20), Route 2, and Interstate 90, Route 9 is one of the major east–west routes of Massachusetts. The western terminus is near the center of the cit ...
) forming one of its primary arteries. Murray Avenue runs parallel to Main Street, just to its north between Madison and Piedmont Streets. During the late 19th century, this area was heavily developed with residential housing, primarily multistory apartment blocks built of brick and stone. Subsequent redevelopment and urban renewal has resulted in the demolition of many of these buildings. A large cluster of them are found north of Murray Avenue in the
Wellington Street Apartment House District. Just southwest of Wellington Street stand a group of four apartment blocks, two each facing Murray Avenue and Main Street. Prior to the development of this area, it formed part of the estate of gunmaker
Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, American Revolutionary War patriot, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for ...
.
The two blocks facing Massachusetts were previously listed on the National Register as
Boynton and Windsor
The Boynton and The Windsor are a pair historic buildings at 718 and 720 Main Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. They are nearly identical brick apartment buildings that were constructed c. 1887 to designs by Barker & Nourse, and are well prese ...
in 1980. They are nearly identical four-story structures, built of red brick with stone trim. They were designed by
Barker & Nourse
Barker & Nourse was an architectural firm from Worcester, Massachusetts, active from 1879 to 1904.
History
The principals of the firm were Albert A. Barker (1852-1905) and Walter B. Nourse (1853-1906), and it operated from 1879 to 1904. It was ...
and built c. 1887, featuring Queen Anne styling. Behind them, facing Murray Avenue, are The Kensington and The Buckingham, built in 1898 to a design by the father-son team of Charles Philander Johnson and Guy Benjamin Johnson. They are five stories in height, also built of red brick with stone trim, but are Classical Revival in style. They are one of the few documented works of this short-lived partnership.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Queen Anne architecture in Massachusetts
Neoclassical architecture in Massachusetts
Historic districts in Worcester, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts