The Twinehurst American Optical Company Neighborhood is a residential
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 ...
in
Southbridge, Massachusetts
Southbridge is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,740 at the 2020 census. Although Southbridge has a city form of government, it is legally known as the Town of Southbridge.
History
The area was in ...
. It consists of seven three family houses built by the owners of the American Optical Company to provide housing for their workers.
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 1989.
Six of the seven houses are on Twinehurst Place, a short loop near the junction of Paige Hill Road and Central Street; one house has an address on Central Street but is physically adjacent to the others. The center of the loop is an open grassy area, giving a clear view of the neighborhood. All of the houses were built between 1915 and 1917, and exhibit Colonial Revival characteristics despite subsequent alteration. The typical house has a three-bay front facade, with the building entrances in the end bays, topped by a gabled pediment above. Two of the buildings have only a single entrance. Most of the buildings have three-part picture windows in the center bay.
[
The houses appear to be somewhat typical -story two-family houses, with their gables toward the street. However, each has extended dormers sufficient to provide a full apartment on the third floor. Each unit originally had a porch on the south side, but in all cases these have been subsequently enclosed. The houses originally had wood-shingle siding, but this has generally been changed: on some of the houses it has been replaced by wider wood siding, and on others by synthetic siding. Despite these changes, Colonial Revival trim details have generally been preserved.][
]
See also
* Maple Street Historic District (Southbridge, Massachusetts), an American Optical housing district
*Windsor Court Historic District
The Windsor Court Historic District is a residential historic district in Southbridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is a collection of five three-family residences located on Windsor Court and adjacent North Street that were built by the Am ...
, another American Optical housing district
*
*
References
External links
MACRIS Listing - 3-5 Twinehurst Pl
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Colonial Revival architecture in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Southbridge, Massachusetts
Company housing