Willard Richmond Apartment Block

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Willard Richmond Apartment Block
Willard Richmond Apartment Block Worcester MA.jpg
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Location 43 Austin St., Worcester, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°15′38″N71°48′24″W / 42.26056°N 71.80667°W / 42.26056; -71.80667 Coordinates: 42°15′38″N71°48′24″W / 42.26056°N 71.80667°W / 42.26056; -71.80667
MPS Worcester MRA
NRHP reference # 85002783 [1]
Added to NRHP November 7, 1985

The Willard Richmond Apartment Block is an historic apartment house at 43 Austin Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built sometime between 1879 and 1886, it is one of the first apartment blocks built in the Main-Wellington-Chandler area, which had one of the city's highest concentrations of such buildings by 1900. [2] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. [1]

Worcester, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

Worcester is a city in, and the county seat of, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population was 181,045, making it the second most populous city in New England after Boston. Worcester is located approximately 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston, 50 miles (80 km) east of Springfield and 40 miles (64 km) north of Providence. Due to its location in Central Massachusetts, Worcester is known as the "Heart of the Commonwealth", thus, a heart is the official symbol of the city. However, the heart symbol may also have its provenance in lore that the Valentine's Day card, although not invented in the city, was mass-produced and popularized by Esther Howland who resided in Worcester.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

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. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Contents

Description and history

The Willard Richmond Apartment Block stands on the southeast corner of Austin and Irving Streets, a short way southwest of Worcester's central downtown area. It is a four-story brick structure, with granite trim. It is basically a mostly rectangular L shape, with a corner missing at the southeast of the building. The street-facing facades have a stringcourse of granite between the partially-exposed basement and the first floor, with another above the first floor window lintels. First floor windows are set in square openings, while those on the second and third floors are set in segmented-arch openings. The fourth floor windows are set in round-arch openings with brick headers and granite keystones, with a band of corbelled brickwork joining the windows at the base of the arched portion. Windows above the main and secondary entrances are treated differently: those above the secondary (Irving Street) entrance have segmented-arch openings. On the second-level above the main entrance are two round-arch windows, with a rectangular one above them, separated by a decorative panel from a large round-arch window at the top. [2]

The building was built sometime between 1879 and 1886, and was one of the earliest buildings in what became, by 1900, one of the city's largest apartment house districts, the Main-Wellington-Chandler area. This area, convenient to downtown Worcester, experienced rapid growth in the 1880s and 1890s. Many of its apartment blocks have since been torn down, and this is one of a few surviving remnants of that past. [2]

See also

The Russell (Worcester, Massachusetts) building in Massachusetts, United States

The Russell is an historic apartment house at 49 Austin Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built in 1894, it is one of the few surviving apartment blocks, of many built, in the Main-Wellington-Chandler area, which had one of the city's highest concentrations of such buildings by 1900. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

There are 104 properties and historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts, west of I-190 and the north-south section of I-290 and north of Massachusetts Route 122, which are listed here. Two listings overlap into other parts of Worcester: one of the 1767 Milestones is located in eastern Worcester, and the Blackstone Canal Historic District traverses all three sections of the city.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts Wikimedia list article

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) designated in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The locations of NRHP properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be seen in a map.

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