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.
Spring Hill is the name of a ridge in the central part of the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, and the residential neighborhood that sits atop it. It runs northwest to southeast, roughly bounded by Highland Avenue, Somerville Avenue, Elm Street, and Willow Avenue. Summer Street runs along the hill's crest.
This is a list of properties and historic districts in Somerville, Massachusetts, that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Charles Adams-Woodbury Locke House is an historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. The Greek Revival house was built about 1840 for a Boston leather merchant and was one of the first residences of a commuter, rather than a farmer, in the Winter Hill neighborhood of the city. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The Charles Schuebeler House is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood frame Italianate house was built c. 1860, and is the only house of its style and period to survive on this section of Washington Street. The street, which joins Somerville's Union Square with Cambridge's Harvard Square, was once lined with similar houses. The house has retained period features, including wide corner pilasters, paired brackets in the gables, and a front porch with trusses and large brackets. Charles Schuebeler was a jeweler.
The Charles Williams Jr. House, built in 1858, is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. Charles Williams Jr. was a manufacturer of electrical telegraph instruments at 109 Court Street in Boston. Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson experimented with the telephone in Williams' shop, and it was there that they first heard indistinct sounds transmitted on June 2, 1875. The first permanent residential telephone service in the world was installed at this house in 1877, connecting Williams' home with his shop on Court Street in Boston. Williams had telephone Numbers 1 and 2 of the Bell Telephone Company.
The Downer Rowhouses are two sets of Second Empire row houses that are back to back at 55 Adams Street and 192-200 Central Street, Somerville, Massachusetts. Built c. 1880, they are among the first buildings of their type built in the city. The two groups were separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1989, as Downer Rowhouses (Central Street) and Downer Rowhouses (Adams Street).
The Walter J. Squire House in Somerville, Massachusetts is a well-preserved transitional Italianate/Queen Anne house. The basic 2+1⁄2-story, front-gable, three-bay side entrance layout was fairly typical for Italianate houses in the city, as are the paired cornice brackets and hoods over the windows. The porch, however, has Queen Anne elements, including turned posts and the rising sun motif on its gable.
The House at 14 Chestnut Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, was one of the last residential structures in the Brickbottom area of the city. Built about 1860, it was a two-story wood-frame structure with Italianate style, with bracketed eaves and an elaborately decorated front door hood. The area where it stood was once lined with similar modestly scaled worker housing, most of which was demolished to turn the area into an industrial park.
The House at 25 Clyde Street in Somerville, Massachusetts is an example of a vernacular brickworker's house in the area. It is estimated to have been built about 1850, when the area was near one of the city's many brickyards. One characteristic common to these houses was the high brick basement wall, which is visible in this house.
The House at 29 Mt. Vernon Street in Somerville, Massachusetts is a well-preserved Greek Revival cottage. The 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built in the late 1840s, when Mt. Vernon Street was a site of significant development activity. The house is distinctive on the street, as most of the other houses are larger. This house features wide eaves, and a full pedimented gable end above a porch with Ionic columns. It has an elaborate front door surrounded, with framed paneling and pilasters.
The House at 35 Temple Street in Somerville, Massachusetts was one of the few 18th-century houses in the city. The 2.5-story wood-frame house was probably built between 1750 and 1780, and had retained most of its Georgian features, including a steeply pitched gambrel roof. The house was probably moved to this location from Broadway or Mystic Avenue in the 19th century.
The house at 72R Dane Street in Somerville, Massachusetts is one of Somerville's oldest surviving structures and is located near the site of the earliest settlement in Somerville.
The house at 81 Pearl Street in Somerville, Massachusetts is a well-preserved Italianate house. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built c. 1860, and features a deep front gable with paired decorative brackets, and a front porch supported by square columns, with an unusual scalloped-arch cornice trim. It is among the best-preserved of the period worker housing built in East Somerville at that time. An early occupant was Benjamin Gage, a machinist.
The Joseph K. James House is a historic house at 83 Belmont Street in Somerville, Massachusetts. This 3 story wood-frame house was built in 1893-4 for Joseph Knightley James, a partner in a local soap manufacturer. It is one of Somerville's best examples of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styling. It has a rectangular Colonial Revival form with a pitched hip roof, with a Queen Anne turret and chimney tops. The front porch is supported by clusters of columns and features a pedimented gable over the entry that is decorated with a hand-carved lion's head surrounded by a floral design.
The Louville Niles House is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2 (2.5) story wood-frame house was built in 1890, and is one of the city's finest Queen Anne Victorian houses. The house was designed by Edwin K. Blankie, an MIT graduate and local builder. The building has irregular massing with numerous gable and roof lines. Its most prominent feature is a round projecting corner bay which is topped by a conical roof with copper finial.
The Louville V. Niles House is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. This 2.5-story wood-frame house was built in 1890 by Louville Niles, a developer and Boston merchant. It is one of the last houses built in the main development phase of the Prospect Hill area. The building has a roughly rectangular massing, with several projecting sections and gables on the roof line, and a decorative chimney top. The front porch has a shed roof on top of spindlework and turned posts.
The Otis-Wyman House is a historic house at 67 Thurston Street in Somerville, Massachusetts. This 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house, built c. 1883, is a well-preserved example of Queen Anne styling. It has projecting gable sections, bays, and porches typical of the style, as well as decorative trim elements such as bargeboard, bracketed eaves, and gabled window hoods. It was originally owned by William R. Otis, a cabinetmaker, and later the residence of Charles B. Wyman, a restaurant owner.
The Philemon Russell House is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. Philemon Robbins Russell was a farmer who owned 50 acres (20 ha) of apple orchards near Russell Street. This land was converted to house lots for development by Captain Gilman Sargent in 1845 creating Orchard Street, Russell Street and Cottage Place. His house, built 1845, is one of the best-preserved side-hall Greek Revival farmhouses in the city. It was moved to the current location from somewhere else. According to the Somerville Journal, page 6, a fire occurred that badly damaged the upper portion of the house. The cause was a mystery and the estimated damage was $2,000. The Boston Daily Globe reported the first took place on On February 26, 1905.
The Thomas Cook House is a historic house in Somerville, Massachusetts. Built c. 1850, it is the only surviving Greek Revival farmhouse on the west side of the city, and a reminder of the area's agrarian past. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
