The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in the United States with a national focus. Its main building, known as Antiquarian Hall, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in recognition of this legacy. The mission of the AAS is to collect, preserve and make available for study all printed records of what is now known as the United States of America. This includes materials from the first European settlement through the year 1876.
Bancroft Tower is a 56-foot-high (17 m) tower of granite and natural stone, which looks like a miniature feudal castle. It is in Salisbury Park, in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. The folly was erected in 1900, in memory of George Bancroft, a native of Worcester and a politician, historian, and statesman. The tower was designed by Worcester architects Earle and Fisher, and cost about $15,000 to build. Bancroft Tower is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Liberty Farm is a National Historic Landmark at 116 Mower Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built c. 1810, it was the home for most of their married life of Abby Kelley Foster (1810–1887) and Stephen Symonds Foster (1809-1881), early vocal abolitionists and women's rights activists. The Fosters used their house as a shelter on the Underground Railroad, and famously refused to pay taxes on the property because Abby was unable to vote. The property, a private residence not open to the public, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. In 2018 the building was sold off to a local family.
The Nathan Wood House is a historic house located in Westminster, Massachusetts. Built in 1756 by one of the town's early settlers, it is one of its oldest surviving buildings, and good example of colonial Georgian residential architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 16, 1987.
The Ahijah Wood House is a historic house in Westminster, Massachusetts. The two story brick Federal style house was built in 1795 by the son of an early settler, and is a rare example of a Federal period house with a hipped mansard roof. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Founder's Hall, also known as Haskell Hall, is a historic academic building located on the campus of Atlantic Union College in Lancaster, Massachusetts, United States. Constructed in 1883, it holds the distinction for being the oldest educational building constructed for a Seventh-day Adventist institution. The notable building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, recognizing its significance in American history and architecture.
The Whitcomb Mansion is a historic house at 51 Harvard Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a high Victorian mansion that was built in 1879 as the home of George H. Whitcomb, one of the city's leading businessmen and philanthropists. It is also one of the few surviving houses designed by noted Worcester architect Stephen Earle.
The William McFarland House is an historic house at 525 Salisbury Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame Cape style structure, with a side-gable roof, central chimney, clapboard siding, and rubblestone foundation. Its main facade is three bays wide, slightly asymmetrical, with a center entrance flanked by pilasters and topped by a modest entablature. Probably built sometime between 1743 and 1759, the house is one of Worcester's oldest surviving structures. It was probably built by William McFarland, Sr., a lieutenant in the American Revolutionary War, and remained in that family for over 100 years.
The WCIS Bank is a historic and unusual bank building at 365 Main Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is fashioned out of two separate buildings, each of which has served as a home for the Worcester County Institution for Savings, the county's first chartered savings bank. The older part of the building, from c. 1851, is at the corner of Foster and Norwich Street, and was built as a joint venture between the bank's parent, the Worcester Bank, and the Boston and Worcester Rail Road. It is a granite structure three stories high, decorated in Italianate styling. It originally featured windows with broken-scrolled pediments on the second story, and bracketed flat hoods over the windows on the third story, but these and other details were compromised by stuccoing done in the 1960s.
The Harry Goddard House or Goddard-Daniels House is an historic house at 190 Salisbury Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built in 1905 for a local wire company executive, it is one of the city's finest examples of Colonial Revival architecture, and a significant residential design of local architect George Clemence. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and has been owned by the American Antiquarian Society since 1981.
The Institutional District of Worcester, Massachusetts is an historic district encompassing a significant concentration of civic and municipal buildings north of the city's downtown area. It is centered on Lincoln Square and Wheaton Square, and includes properties on Main, Salisbury, and Tuckerman Streets. It includes the 1840s Worcester County Courthouse, the War Memorial and Memorial Auditorium, and the former Worcester Historical Society building at 39 Salisbury Street. The 1897 Worcester Art Museum is included in the district, as is the c. 1890 armory building at 44 Salisbury Street. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The Lucius Knowles House is a historic house located at 838 Main Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is locally significant as one of the city's best preserved Second Empire style buildings.
The John Legg House is a historic house at 5 Claremont Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Queen Anne style house was built in 1892 to a design by noted local architect Stephen Earle for John Legg, owner of the Worcester Woolens Company, one of the city's largest textile businesses. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame with an asymmetrical plan. One unusual feature is a first floor bay on the right side which is topped by a parapet. The center and left side of the house are sheltered by a porch, with a decorated gable end over the stairs.
Montvale is a residential historic district in northwestern Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a portion of a subdivision laid out in 1897 on the estate of Jared Whitman, Jr., whose property contained a single house, now 246 Salisbury Street. The central portion of this house was built in 1851 in a conventional Greek Revival style, and was expanded with the addition of side wings by the developers of the 1897 subdivision, H. Ballard and M. O. Wheelock.
There are two historic Salisbury Factory Buildings in Worcester, Massachusetts. The first of these, at 25 Union Street, was built in 1879, and is a five-story brick building with modest Victorian Gothic trim. The second, at 49-51 Union Street, was built in 1882, is a three-story brick building designed by local architect Stephen Earle. These two buildings are the only ones that survive of a series of factory buildings built by Stephen Salisbury II and Stephen Salisbury III in the Lincoln Square area north of Worcester's downtown. The Salisburys rented space out to small manufacturers in these buildings, introducing a trend that dominated the industrial development of the city. Most of their buildings were demolished during redevelopment of the area in the 20th century.
The Salisbury Mansion and Store is an historic house museum at 40 Highland Street in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The D. Wheeler Swift House is a historic house at 22 Oak Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built in 1879–80 to a design by the noted local architect Stephen C. Earle, it is a well-preserved example of Gothic Revival and Stick style design, which was home to a prominent business owner. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Stephen Carpenter Earle was an architect who designed a number of buildings in Massachusetts and Connecticut that were built in the late 19th century, with many in Worcester, Massachusetts. He trained in the office of Calvert Vaux in New York City. He worked for a time in partnership with James E. Fuller, under the firm "Earle & Fuller". In 1891, he formed a partnership with Vermont architect Clellan W. Fisher under the name "Earle & Fisher".
Fuller & Delano was an architectural firm in Worcester, Massachusetts, active from 1878 until 1942. It originally consisted of architects James E. Fuller and Ward P. Delano. The firm designed more than 20 buildings that were later listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
There are 98 properties and historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts, east of I-190 and the north-south section of I-290, which are listed below. Two listings overlap into other parts of Worcester: one of the 1767 Milestones is located in northwestern Worcester, and the Blackstone Canal Historic District traverses all three sections of the city.
