MPS Cambridge MRA Area 7 ha | NRHP Reference # 83000797 Added to NRHP 30 June 1983 | |
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Location Cambridge, Massachusetts Architectural style Mid 19th Century Revival, Early Republic | ||
The East Cambridge Historic District encompasses the historic center of East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It includes the major buildings that were built to house county services for Middlesex County beginning in the 1810s, and a cluster of largely vernacular Greek Revival worker housing located west of the county complex on Otis, Thorndike, Spring, and Sciarappa Streets. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Description and history
Before the turn of the 19th century, the East Cambridge area was historically isolated from the rest of Cambridge by marshy land that was only filled in much later. The first organized development attempt, by the Lechmere Point Corporation, was begun around that time, and resulted in the layout of a rectilinear street grid in the area, the first planned land use of its type in the Boston area. The area's growth was the result of two key decisions: the first was the granting of land to the county for new facilities, and the second was the establishment of the New England Glass Company, which spurred both residential construction and other industrial development.
Major landmarks from the early years of East Cambridge's development are the 1827 Federal-style church at, built as a Congregational church and based on an Asher Benjamin design, and the Charles Bulfinch-designed county courthouse, which has been surrounded by a complex of sympathetically-designed buildings, including the brick Queen Anne Putnam School. The major surviving industrial facility in the district is the Davenport factory, bounded by Otis, Thorndike, and First Streets, in which a high-profile furniture manufacturer operated into the 20th century.
Vernacular worker's housing in late Federal and Greek Revival style were built in some quantity in the area, examples of which survive on Otis Street. A few Second Empire rowhouses were also built, in a simpler emulation of more sophisticated styles found in Boston. Few houses were built after about 1890; there are only a few examples of the Queen Anne and Colonial Revivals.