West Newton Village Center Historic District

West Newton Village Center Historic District
Location Roughly Washington Street from Putnam to Davis Court, West Newton, Massachusetts
NRHP Reference # 90000017 [1]
Added to NRHP March 16, 1990

The West Newton Village Center Historic District encompassing the heart of the village of West Newton, in the city of Newton, Massachusetts in the United States. It extends along Washington Street between Lucas Court in the west and Davis Court in the east, and includes a few properties on immediately adjacent side streets, including Watertown Street and Waltham Street. The village is the second-largest of Newton's commercial centers (after Newton Corner) and is the best-preserved of its late 19th and early 20th century village centers.[2] The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[1]

West Newton's history begins with the establishment of the Second Church in Newton in 1764. Washington Street was from the early days a major east-west road, and the railroad which was built alongside it in the 19th century spurred development of the area. From 1849 to 1932 West Newton housed the civic center of the city, and it is still the location of its police headquarters and a local district courthouse, both Classical Revival buildings built in 1931 to designs by James Ritchie. The West Newton Branch Library building at 25 Chestnut Street is a Tudor Revival structure built in 1926 with funds raised by community subscription. One of the oldest buildings in the district is the Railroad Hotel, built in 1831 and now serving as a retail and office space.[2]

There is only one church now in the village center, that of the First Universalist Society; it is a Gothic Revival structure designed by Cram & Ferguson and built in 1905-6. The Second Church, which was originally located on Washington Street, moved to Highland Avenue, just outside the district, around 1915.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 "NRHP nomination for West Newton Village Center Historic District". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
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