Belvidere Hill Historic District | |
Location | Lowell, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°38′17″N71°17′34″W / 42.63806°N 71.29278°W |
Area | 38 acres (15 ha) |
Built | 1849 |
Architectural style | Victorian, Colonial Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 95000656 [1] |
Added to NRHP | May 26, 1995 |
The Belvidere Hill Historic District encompasses a residential area on the east side of Lowell, Massachusetts known for its fine 19th-century houses. The area, roughly bounded by Wyman, Belmont, Fairview, and Nesmith Streets, was developed beginning in the 1850s, and was one of the finest neighborhoods in the city, home to many of its business and civic leaders. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. [1]
Belvidere Hill is the highest point in the city of Lowell. Located on the city's east side, it is one of several glacial drumlin that characterize the city's geography east of the Concord River and south of the Merrimack River. Prior to its residential development, Belvidere Hill was farmland. In 1849, the Proprietors of Locks and Canals purchased land at the top of what was then called Lynde's Hill, and built a reservoir in order to provide water pressure to the city's industries when the power canals were drained for maintenance. Fairmount Road, built to facilitate construction of the reservoir, also became a spur to the hill's residential development. The city's businessmen and political leaders found the hill a desirable place to live, in part because it provided views away from the heavily urbanized parts of the city. [2]
The historic district is roughly bounded by Wyman, Belmont, Fairview, and Nesmith Streets. Fairmount Street is the principal spine of the district, running between Mansur Street and Evergreen Road. It also includes portions of Belmont and Nesmith Streets, which parallel Fairmount, and all of Talbot, Fairview, and Summit Streets, which are short streets between Fairmount and Belmont. The earliest houses built in the area are generally Italianate and Second Empire in their styling, and the area's development ended around the turn of the 20th century, when Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles were fashionable. Lot sizes are generally large (1/2 to 1 acre), and the houses often included a front drive and carriage house in the rear. [2] The land switched hands between Billerica, then Tewksbury which broke away from Billerica, then being sold to Lowell. The former Tewksbury lands can be seen in the lands Lowell has on the Merrimack River and Concord River on the east side.
Middlesex County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,632,002, making it the most populous county in both Massachusetts and New England and the 22nd most populous county in the United States. This also makes the county the most populous county on the East Coast outside of New York or Florida. Middlesex County is one of two U.S. counties to be amongst the top 25 counties with the highest household income and the 25 most populated counties. It is included in the Census Bureau's Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA–NH Metropolitan Statistical Area. As part of the 2020 United States census, the Commonwealth's mean center of population for that year was geo-centered in Middlesex County, in the town of Natick.
Billerica is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.
Lowell is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, it is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of the last census, and the third most populous in the Boston metropolitan statistical area. The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area, called Greater Lowell, and of New England's Merrimack Valley region.
Tewksbury is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Its population was 31,342 as of the 2020 United States Census.
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The Middlesex Canal was a 27-mile (44-kilometer) barge canal connecting the Merrimack River with the port of Boston. When operational it was 30 feet wide, and 3 feet deep, with 20 locks, each 80 feet long and between 10 and 11 feet wide. It also had eight aqueducts.
The National Register of Historic Places is a United States federal official list of places and sites considered worthy of preservation. In the state of Massachusetts, there are over 4,300 listings, representing about 5% of all NRHP listings nationwide and the second-most of any U.S. state, behind only New York. Listings appear in all 14 Massachusetts counties.
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Greater Lowell is the region comprising the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, and its suburbs. These lie in northern Middlesex County, Massachusetts; in the Merrimack Valley; and in southern New Hampshire.
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The Billerica Mills Historic District is a historic district between the Concord River, Treble Cove Terrace, Kohlrausch Avenue, Indian Road, Holt Ruggles, and Rogers Streets in the village of North Billerica, Massachusetts.
The Andover Street Historic District is a linear residential historic district in the Belvidere neighborhood of eastern Lowell, Massachusetts. The district encompasses large, fashionable houses and estates that were built between the 1860s and the 1930s. It includes properties at 245—834 Andover Street, and at 569 and 579 East Merrimack Street. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
The Colburn School is a historic former school building at 136 Lawrence Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. Built in 1848, it is a fine example of institutional Greek Revival architecture, and is one of the city's older surviving school buildings, built during the rapid population growth that followed the city's industrialization. Now converted to apartments, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The Flagg-Coburn House is a historic house at 722 E. Merrimack Street in Lowell, Massachusetts. Built in 1926 for a local industrialist, it is the first known example in New England of the distinctive residential work of New York City architect Ernest Flagg. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
The Washington Square Historic District of Lowell, Massachusetts encompasses a historic subdivision laid out in 1832. The focal point of the subdivision is Kittridge Park, which lies on the eastern side of the district and was an original part of the subdivision plan developed by the Nesmith Brothers. It was the first significant residential subdivision in the city aimed at a wealthier clientele, and was designed by landscape architect Alexander Wadsworth. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and expanded slightly in 1999.
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those living along it for millennia.
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Otis A. Merrill was an American architect. In association with various partners he practiced architecture in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1873 until 1900.