<p>The House at 199 Summer Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts is designated as historic. The original two-and-a-half-story house was designed by architect Horace G. Wadlin and built in 1878 for Robert Kemp, leader of the popular Old Folks Concerts. The house was the second in Reading that Kemp had built; the first also is still standing.</p><br>
<p>Originally built in the Second Empire style with a mansard roof, the house was extensively altered in the 1890s, when its mansard roof was removed and Tudor Revival styling was added.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>206 West Street is historic house located in Reading, Massachusetts. It is locally significant as a well-preserved example of a Greek Revival cottage.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>Its date of construction is uncertain, but appears to fall within the period of Greek Revival popularity in Reading, between 1831 and 1857. The house has side gables (unlike the more typical Greek Revival front gable forms), with a gabled dormer above the center entry. The door is flanked by full-length sidelight windows and pilasters, which support a tall entablature. The house is believed to be associated with J.B. Leathe, a local shop owner and civic leader.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 19, 1984.</p><br>
<p>242 Summer Avenue is a historic house located in Reading, Massachusetts. It is locally significant as a well-preserved example of a Shingle style house.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The two-story wood-frame house was built in 1912; it has irregular massing with a hip roof. There are two gable-topped pavilions framing a central section of the front facade, which have roof sections extending to the sides of the house that shelter porches (the front entry to the right, a sitting porch to the left). First-floor windows on the pavilions are grouped in a way reminiscent of Prairie style design.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 19, 1984.</p><br>
<p>26 Center Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts is an architecturally eclectic cottage, with a mix of Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate features. Built c. 1854–1875, it is a rare surviving remnant of a residential subdivision once dubbed "Mudville" for the condition of its unpaved roads. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The house at 26 Center Avenue is located in a residential area southwest of downtown Reading, on the south side of Center Street near its junction with Maple Avenue. It is stories in height, of wood-frame construction, and resting on a brick foundation set on an artificially raised mound. This latter feature was one commonly used during Reading&#39;s real estate development during the Greek Revival period. Its front facade is three bays wide, with the main entrance in the rightmost bay, framed by sidelight windows, pilasters, and a corniced entablature. Survey photos of the building in 1980 show jigsawn vergeboard on the front gable and side eaves, a Gothic feature, and bracketed and corniced surrounds on the front windows; these features have either been removed or covered over.</p><br>
<p>Based on stylistic analysis, the house was built sometime between about 1854 and 1875 as worker housing. It was part of a residential subdivision created by developer Amos Cummings in 1854. Cummings loaned workers money with which they could build houses, and then collected rent or other payments to recoup his investment. The scheme failed in the Panic of 1857, leaving a network of unpaved roads that became muddy when rains flooded the area. This gave rise to the name "Mudville", which was applied to the area for many years. Residents were eventually able to improve the neighborhood, and it is no longer known by that name.</p><br>
<p>322 Haven Street in Reading, Massachusetts is well preserved cottage with Gothic and Italianate features. Built sometime before 1889, its use of even modest Gothic features is unusual in Reading, where the Gothic Revival was not particularly popular. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The house at 322 Haven Street is located in a residential area just east of downtown Reading, on the north side of Haven Street between Elliott and Village Streets. It is a small -story wood-frame structure, with a front-facing gabled roof, clapboarded exterior, and brick foundation. It has cornices and pilasters that are reminiscent of Greek Revival styling, but the door hood is distinctly Italianate in style, and there is Gothic bargeboard decoration in the front gable. To the right of the entrance is a polygonal bay window topped by a flared hip roof, similar to the one on the small porch sheltering the entrance.</p><br>
<p>The house was built sometime between 1876 and 1889, based on analysis of maps of the area from that time. It is unusual in the town for exhibiting any Gothic features at all, because the Gothic Revival was not very popular in Reading; this is one of the town&#39;s few surviving examples. At the time of its construction, Haven Street was a private way passing through a lumber yard. It was accepted as a town road by 1912.</p><br>
<p>The House at 42 Salem Street in Reading, Massachusetts is a transitional Greek Revival-Italianate house. Built sometime before 1854, its gable end faces the street, with the door on the left bay of three, a typical Greek Revival side hall layout. The doorway is topped by a heavy Italianate hood. The windows have shallow pedimented lintels, and the left facade has a projecting square bay. The house was occupied for many years by S. H. Dinsmore, a cabinetmaker who originally worked from a shop in the rear of the property and later moved to a larger space  a short way down Salem Street. The house is typical of small industry that developed along Salem Street in the second half of the 19th century. It is next door to the Washington Damon House.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The House at 44 Temple Street in Reading, Massachusetts is an excellent local example of the Bungalow style of architecture. Built c. 1910, it has a low hip roof with exceptionally wide eaves supported by exposed rafters. The front of the roof is further supported by two large decorative knee braces. Large square shingled piers anchor the balustrade of the front porch. One of its early owners, Annie Bliss, wrote a column in the local Reading Chronicle, and ran a candy shop out of her home.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The House at 483 Summer Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts, USA, is a modestly decorated vernacular Federal style cottage. The -story wood-frame house was built c. 1830, late for a Federal style building. Its significant Federal features are its five-bay facade, side-gable roof, and the door surround, which has pilasters supporting a tall entablature with a projecting cornice. The house is finished in wooden clapboards, and has two gabled dormers projecting from the front roof.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The House at 57 Woburn Street in Reading, Massachusetts is a Queen Anne style house designed by architect Horace G. Wadlin and built c. 1889 for Alfred Danforth, railroad employee who served for a time as Readings town clerk. It is one of the towns more elaborate Queen Anne houses, with patterned shingles and an ornately decorated porch. The front-facing gable is particularly elaborate, with wave-form shingling and a pair of sash windows set in a curved recess.</p><br>
<p>The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>77 Howard Street in Reading, Massachusetts is an excellent example of a well preserved Queen Anne Victorian house. It was built in the 1890s, during the town&#39;s growth as a railroad suburb of Boston. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>77 Howard Street is located in southwestern Reading, on the north side of Howard Street between West Street and Sigbee Avenue. The neighborhood in which it stands was, at the time of its construction, called "Scotland Hill" after a group of Scottish immigrants who lived and socialized nearby. The house is a -story wood-frame structure; although it has a basically rectangular massing, it has a complex appearance, with a turret on the left, bay windows on the front facade, and a large front gable on the right side of the hipped roof. The gable is decorated with scalloped shingles and has a small recessed window above a projecting oriel window. The front porch has bracketed turned columns and delicate balusters, and a spindled valance.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in the 1890s, as part of a building boom in which Reading was transformed into a railroad suburb of Boston. The area was previously farmland, on which paper streets had been platted sometime before 1893. It was developed to appeal to middle-class workers commuting to Boston.</p><br>
<p>The House at 79–81 Salem Street, also known as the Samuel Allen House, in Reading, Massachusetts was a modest Greek Revival two-family cottage. The wood-frame house was built sometime between 1830 and 1854 was a typical vernacular Greek Revival house, with a five-bay facade and a paired central entrance. When the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the two entrances were flanked by pilasters supporting an unusually tall entablature; the house was later covered in synthetic siding, and a projecting portion at the top of the entablature was removed. The structure was completely torn down in 2021 for new construction.</p><br>
<p>The Jabez Weston House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The older portion of this -story timber-frame house was built c. 1779 in a late-Georgian early-Federalist style. This portion consisted of a five bay section with a centrally located front door. Sometime , an eastern extension added three bays and a second entrance, converting the building into a two family residence. The property belonged to the Weston family, who were early settlers of the area.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Jacob Manning House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. Built in 1877 for garden nursery owner Jacob Manning, this -story wood-frame house is an excellent local example of Stick style architecture. It has a steeply pitched roof, multiple gables, tall thin windows, and decorative half-timber woodwork. The owner, Jacob Manning, owned one of the largest nurseries in the area, and was responsible for the landscaping of the Massachusetts pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World Fair.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The James Nichols House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. Built c. 1795, this -story gambrel-roofed house is built in a vernacular Georgian style, and is a rare local example of the style. The house was built by a local shoemaker and farmer who was involved in a religious dispute that divided the town. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Nichols House is set on the east side of Pearl Street at its junction with Wakefield Street, in what is now a rural-suburban area of northern Reading, opposite Forest Glen Cemetery. Facing south, the -story wood-frame structure is five bays wide, with a large central chimney and a gambrel roof that slopes toward the back in a saltbox configuration. A "Beverly dodge" projection extends from the back half of the west side, with a shed-roof sloping to the rear. Decorative elements are minimal, with a simple door treatment and sash windows that extend up to the cornice. There is a late 19th-century Queen Anne style carriage house on the property east of the house.</p><br>
<p>When this house was built c. 1795, Pearl Street was a major north–south route running from Reading to Andover. It was built by James Nichols, who engaged in the locally significant business of shoe making, an activity he would have performed on this property, selling his product to a merchant in the town center. Nichols is known to have been at the center of a religious controversy whose details are poorly documented. He is known to have been excommunicated from the South Parish Church, and to have later joined the North Parish in what is now North Reading.</p><br>
<p>The Jerry Nichols Tavern is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. It is a -storey wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side gable roof, central chimney, and clapboard siding. The main entrance is flanked by pilasters and topped by an entablature. The oldest portion of the house was built in 1785 by Jeremiah Nichols, a Revolutionary War veteran, farmer, and shoemaker. This property was where Reading&#39;s minute companies drilled prior to the American Revolutionary War, and where its powder magazine was kept. The building was expanded 1810–13, and had by 1830 been adapted as a tavern and stage coach stop. In 1824 it was bought by Rev. Peter Sanborn, in whose family it remained into the 1940s.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Joseph Bancroft House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. Built in the early 1830s, it is a prominent local example of Federal period architecture. It was built for a member of the locally prominent Bancroft family, who inherited a large tract of land in the area. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Joseph Bancroft House stands on the north side of Lowell Street (Massachusetts Route 129), at northeast corner of its junction with Bancroft Avenue. It is a -story wood-frame structure, set back from the street on a lot that is fronted by a low fieldstone retaining wall. The roof is gabled, and the exterior is clad in wooden clapboards. The main facade is five bays wide and symmetrical, with a central entrance framed by pilasters and a corniced entablature. There is no window above the entrance, and most windows are placed slightly lower than is typical for the Federal period. A single-story ell extends to the right of the main block with a dormered gable roof.</p><br>
<p>The house was built on a large tract of land inherited by Joseph Bancroft. It may have been built around the time of Bancrofts marriage in 1833, and does not appear on an 1830 map of the town. The Bancroft family owned most of the Reading Highlands for many years; the area south of Lowell Street was inherited by Josephs brother.</p><br>
<p>The Joseph Damon House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. Built about 1754, this -story wood-frame house is good local example of a Georgian colonial house with later Federal period alterations. It also demonstrates a typical pattern of shared ownership by multiple descendants of one of its owners. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Damon house is set on the north side of South Street in a residential area of southwestern Reading. Facing south, it is a -story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, granite foundation, and twin interior chimneys. An integral leanto extends the building the south, extending west beyond the edge of the main block. An ell extends further to the rear, resting on a rubblestone foundation. The main facade has a central entry with flanking pilasters and an entablature. Windows are arranged symmetrically, but not evenly spaced.</p><br>
<p>The house was built sometime before 1754 by Joseph Damon, and a portion was inherited by his son Jabez. The house was to remain in divided ownership by members of the Damon family for more than 100 years, the various shares being finally united in 1870 by Rufus Damon. This method of dividing and sharing houses was not particularly unusual in rural settings where buildings were expensive to build. The saltbox form, while typical in New England, was unusual in Reading, where framed extensions are more often found in houses of this period.</p><br>
<p>The Joseph Parker House is a historic house at 107 Grove Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story wood-frame house was probably built around 1795, when it first appeared on local maps. It is predominantly Federal in its styling, with smaller second-story windows and boxed cornices. Its center entry surround is a Greek Revival feature, with an architrave surround with corner blocks and half-length sidelight windows. The houses notable occupants include Loea Parker, who died in the War of 1812, and F. Howard Gilson, an early experimenter in photography. From 1910 to 1932 it was owned by the Fathers and Mothers&#39; Club, which used it as a country retreat for urban youth.</p><br>
<p>The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Joseph Temple House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The Second Empire wood-frame house was built in 1872 by Joseph Temple, owner of locally prominent necktie manufacturer. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Temple House is set on the west side of Chute Street, a side street in a residential area west of Reading&#39;s central business district. The house is a two-story wood-frame structure, with a mansard roof providing a full third story. The mansard roof features deep flared eaves with decorative brackets, and the windows in its gabled dormers are topped by dentillated cornices. The main facade, facing east, is three bays wide, with a single-story porch extending across its width. The porch has a flat roof, and is supported by turned posts with decorative brackets, and has turned balusters. The main entrance is in the rightmost bay, and is framed by sidelight and transom windows. The other bays have simple sash windows, and are topped by relatively plain projecting cornices. The side elevation has a projecting polygonal bay, with small recessed panels above and below its windows.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in 1872, in a neighborhood laid out after the railroad arrived in 1848. Joseph Temple was a Reading native who entered the business of the locally prominent Damon family, whose firm manufactured neckties on premises in Reading center. In 1910 the division that Temple ran was producing 250,000 neckties per year.</p><br>
<p>The Kemp Place and Barn form a historic farmstead in Reading, Massachusetts. The main house is a -story Italianate wood-frame structure, with an L-shaped cross-gable footprint and clapboard siding. Its roofline is studded with paired brackets, its windows have "eared" or shouldered hoods, and there is a round-arch window in the front gable end. The porch wraps around the front to the side, supported by Gothic style pierced-panel posts. The square cupola has banks of three round-arch windows on each side. It is one of Reading&#39;s more elaborate Italianate houses, and is one of the few of the period whose cupola has survived.</p><br>
<p>The carriage barn, which stands at the rear of the 1.5 acre property, is a two-story rectangular wood-frame structure with a side-gable roof, and a smaller cross gable above the large center vehicle entrance bay. The building shares stylistic features with the house, including bracketed eaves and shouldered door hoods. The hayloft entrance, located above the main entrance, is surrounded by a scrolled carving.</p><br>
<p>The farmhouse and barn were built in 1858 by Robert "Father" Kemp, founder of the Old Folks Concerts, a nostalgic singing group that toured the country. Kemp was politically active at the local level, serving on the school committee. A subsequent owner opened one of the nations first dollar stores in Boston. In 1908, the house was inherited by Charles P. Howard, a prominent Harvard University lawyer who was active in local and state politics. Howards wife Katherine was active in Republican Party politics, serving as secretary of the Republican National Convention in 1952.</p><br>
<p>The farmhouse and carriage barn were each separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Demolition of both structures was proposed by its owner in 2014 due to the extensive presence of wood rot, but a six-month delay was imposed by the local historical commission in August 2014.</p><br>
<p>The Luther Elliott House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The modestly sized 1.5-story wood-frame house was built in 1850 by Luther Elliott, a local cabinetmaker who developed an innovative method of sawing wood veneers. The house has numerous well preserved Greek Revival features, including corner pilasters, and a front door surrounded with sidelight windows and pilasters supporting a tall entablature.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Mark Temple House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story timber-frame house was built c. 1753 by Jonathan Temple, whose family lived all along Summer Street. In the 1850s "Uncle Mark" Temple, remodeled the Georgian style house into the Greek Revival style then still popular in Reading. Among his changes was to turn the original building 90 degrees and raise its foundation. Oscar Foote, a locally prominent real estate developer and businessman, bought the house in 1863.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Masonic Block  is an historic commercial block in Reading, Massachusetts. This three-story brick building is distinctive in the town for its Renaissance Revival styling. It was built in 1894 by the local Reading Masonic Temple Corporation, and housed the local Masonic lodge on the third floor. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Masonic Block is set at the northwest corner of Main Street (Massachusetts Route 28) and Haven Street in Reading&#39;s central business district. It is a three-story brick structure with stone trim. The facade facing Main Street is five bays wide, that facing Haven is nineteen bays, and there is a bay in an angled corner between. The first level houses modern commercial storefronts, with plate glass windows sheltered by awnings. The upper floor bays are all sash windows, and are divided into groups of varying size by projecting piers that rise to the roof. A band of corbelled brickwork separates the second and third levels, and the third level is topped by a band of limestone, above which is a row of blind arches, giving the third-floor windows the appearance of being set in arched openings. This row of arches is separated from the roof by a band of more heavily corbelled brickwork.</p><br>
<p>The block was built in 1894, displacing a private residence that was disassembled and relocated. At the time, the lane to the south was private; it was widened and named Haven Street in honor of the first minister of the Third Parish, Thomas Haven. It was built by the Reading Masonic Temple Corporation, a private stock company composed of local businessmen. Longtime tenants of the building included Willis&#39; Drug Store, the Reading Chronicle (publisher 1894-1932), and the local Masonic lodge, which occupied the third floor. The building was extended to the north in 1929, a space that was occupied by jeweler Millard F. Charles. Charles over time acquired a controlling interest in the ownership corporation, which was renamed the Millard F. Charles Corporation in 1972.</p><br>
<p>The Nathaniel Batchelder House is a historic house at 71 Franklin Street in Reading, Massachusetts. Built sometime between 1753 and 1765, it is a prominent local example of Georgian architecture. It is also significant for its association with several members of the locally prominent Batchelder family. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Nathaniel Batchelder House stands in a residential area of northern Reading, on the north side of Franklin Street just east of its junction with Pearl Street. It is a -story timber-frame structure, with a side-gable roof, two interior chimneys, clapboarded exterior, and stone foundation. Its main facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance framed by sidelight windows, pilasters, and a tall corniced entablature. Its upper-floor windows are set butting against the eave, a typical Georgian feature.</p><br>
<p>The house was built sometime between 1753 and 1765 by Nathaniel Batchelder, Jr., probably later in the period following his fathers death in 1763 when the family property was divided. The Batchelders were a prominent local family, and this house remained in the family until 1971. A mid-19th century descendant was "Master John" Batchelder, who was well known locally as a school teacher, town selectman, and state representative. Johns great-great-great-grandniece Bernice, who also lived in this house, was a professor of Education at Ashland State Teachers College in Ohio.</p><br>
<p>The Old Hose House is a historic fire house in Reading, Massachusetts. The Colonial Revival wood-frame building was constructed in 1902 for a cost of $1,180.50, plus $10 for the land on which it stands. The modestly-scaled building housed a fire truck until 1930, after which time it has served as home to community groups. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Old Hose House is set on the east side of Main Street (Massachusetts Route 28), a major thoroughfare, in a rural-suburban area of northern Reading. It is a modestly sized single-story wood-frame structure, with Colonial Revival styling, including a gambrel roof with an overhanging street-facing gable that has decorative brackets in the overhang. The gable end has a small round window with leaded lights, and the roof is topped by a small square belfry with a pyramidal roof. The main street-facing facade has a band of three small square windows, the engine bay entrance having been built over. The building is entered on the right side, where a hip-roof porch extends along a portion of that side.</p><br>
<p>The building was built in 1902 to house a hand-pump fire truck that was operated by a volunteer fire company organized in 1815. The town paid the $10 for the land and $1,180.50 for the buildings construction. The bell was taken from the towns John Street school and installed in 1904. In 1930, after the town had adopted more modern equipment, the building was sold to a local community theater organization, which staged inexpensive productions in the building. In 1972 it was sold to Colonial Chorus Players a community theater group, which uses it as a rehearsal space.</p><br>
<p>The Parker House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. It is a two-story wood-frame cottage, two bays wide, with a front-facing gable roof, clapboard siding, and a side entrance accessed from its wraparound porch. It is a well-preserved example Queen Anne/Stick style, with high style features that are unusual for a relatively modest house size. Its front gable end is embellished with Stick style woodwork resembling half-timbering, and the porch is supported by basket-handle brackets.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Pearl Street School is a historic school building at 75 Pearl Street in Reading, Massachusetts. Built in 1939, the two-story brick and limestone building is Readings only structure built as part of a Public Works Administration project. The site on which it was built was acquired by the town sometime before 1848, and served as its poor farm. With fifteen classrooms, the school replaced three smaller wood-frame schoolhouses in the towns school system, and was its first fire-resistant structure.</p><br>
<p>The school, designed by local architect George H. Sidebottom, is stylistically a mix of Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, and Art Deco styles. The walls are predominantly brick, with limestone and wooden trim, and the cornice is decorated with modillions. These features, and the 12-over-12 double hung windows, are typical Colonial Revival features. The building has a basic U-shaped plan, with projecting pavilions on the left and right ends, and the front facade. The legs of the U are irregular: the right-side leg is a rectangular ell, while the left side one is an irregular polygonal shape. The projecting pavilions are a typical Classical Revival feature. Art Deco surrounds frame the windows on these pavilions, and there are brick pilasters that frame the Art Deco surrounds on the entryways that are centered in each pavilion.</p><br>
<p>The building served Reading as an elementary school until 1984, when it was closed due to declining enrollment. The school board leased it to a variety of tenants, and turned it over to the town selectmen in 1989, who sold the building in 1995.</p><br>
<p>The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. It now houses the Residence at Pearl Street assisted living residence.</p><br>
<p>The Pierce House is a historic house at 128 Salem Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story wood-frame house was built sometime between 1875 and 1880 for Samuel Pierce, owner of the nearby Pierce Organ Pipe Factory. The house has Stick style/Eastlake style features, including a steeply pitched gable roof with exposed rafter ends, and an elaborately decorated entry porch with square chamfered columns and brackets in the eaves.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Pierce Organ Pipe Factory was a historic factory building in Reading, Massachusetts. The oldest portion of the two-story wood-frame Italianate structure was built in 1852 by Samuel Pierce, who had begun the manufacture of organ pipes in his nearby house in the 1840s. The building was expanded several times over the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>On Friday October 14, 2011, the building was torn down to make way for the construction of an eight unit condominium.</p><br>
<p>The Pratt House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The two-story wood-frame house built in 1809 and is stylistically a transitional Georgian/Federal structure. The main portion of the house is a single room deep, and there is a two-story shed-roof extension on the rear. The house belonged to various members of the locally prominent Pratt family, including Joseph Pratt, the first Reading shoe manufacturer to use a stitching machine.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The former Reading Municipal Building is a historic building at 49 Pleasant Street in Reading, Massachusetts. Built in 1885, this two-story brick building was the towns first municipal structure, housing the town offices, jail, and fire station. In 1918 all functions except fire services moved out of the building. It now serves as Readings Pleasant Street Senior Center. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The former Reading Municipal Building is set on the southeast corner of Pleasant and Parker Streets, just off Reading&#39;s Main Street central business district. It is a rectangular two-story brick Renaissance Revival structure with a hip roof. Its northern facade is four bays wide, with the main entrance in the leftmost bay. The three first-floor windows are set in round-arch openings, while the four on the second are set in segmented-arch openings. The west facade originally housed the openings for the fire house, with three large round-arch openings now filled with wood paneling and windows below, and single segmented-arch windows flanking a central pair of narrow windows in the center bay. At the northeast corner, a wood-frame tower with Stick style decoration rises to a gable-over-hip roof.</p><br>
<p>The town of Reading was incorporated in 1644, but this, its first purpose-built municipal building, was not constructed until 1883. It was designed by local architect Horace G. Wadlin, and housed town offices, fire station, and the local jail. It served all of these roles until 1918, when the town offices were relocated to the present town hall in 1918. This building remained a fire station for many years, with its original round doorway openings combined into two rectangular openings to provide access for more modern fire equipment. The building was in this configuration when it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The fire house facade has since been restored to its original form, albeit with the openings closed off, and the building now houses a local senior center.</p><br>
<p>The Reading Municipal Light and Power Station is a historic municipal power station building at 226 Ash Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The single-story brick building was built in 1894 after the town decided to build a municipal power station. The Romanesque style building was designed by George E. Abbott, and housed power generating equipment until 1925, when it was converted to housing power switching equipment. It now houses municipal offices.</p><br>
<p>The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Reading Standpipe was a historic water tower atop a hill near the corner of Auburn and Beacon Streets in Reading, Massachusetts. The 138 ft tower was built in 1890-91 as part of Reading&#39;s first water supply system and was for many years a significant community landmark. The tower was built of steel and wrought iron in a style reminiscent of medieval fortifications.</p><br>
<p>The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It was demolished in April 1999, leaving only its companion modern tower (erected in 1953), which itself was subsequently demolished and replaced with a communications tower.</p><br>
<p>The Rev. Peter Sanborn House is a historic house at 55 Lowell Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story Federal style wood-frame house was built c. 1812 by Reverent Peter Sanborn, minister of the Third Parish Church and a significant community leader. It was purchased from Sanborn&#39;s estate in 1860 by Benjamin Boyce, a clockmaker and son-in-law of Daniel Pratt, a significant local businessman. It was modified by subsequent owners to add Victorian styling, but most of these changes were removed as part of restoration efforts in the late 20th century. The house has simple vernacular Federal styling.</p><br>
<p>The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Richard Nichols House is a historic late First Period house at 483 Franklin Street in Reading, Massachusetts, United States. It is a -story wood-frame structure, six bays wide, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, rubblestone foundation, and an entry in the third bay from the left, with a chimney behind. The oldest portion of this house, probably a three-bay section with chimney, was built c. 1733, and expanded to five, and then six, bays later in the 18th century. The house, along with extensive landholdings, remained in the locally prominent Nichols family until the late 19th century.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Roberts House is a historic house at 59 Prospect Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The two-story house is basically Colonial Revival in character, but also exhibits Craftsman style features, including extended eaves with exposed rafter ends, stucco walls, and a chunky entrance portico. The window above the entrance is a Shingle style band of three casement windows, and there is a hip-roof dormer in the roof above. The house is one of Readings better examples of Craftsman architecture, and was built in 1911, during a building boom on the towns west side.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Rowhouses at 256–274 Haven Street  are a series of historic rowhouses in Reading, Massachusetts, USA. They were built in 1886 by Edward Manning on the site of a millyard that had been destroyed by fire a few years before. The rowhouses are in a Greek Revival/Italianate style, unusual given that these styles had passed out of fashion by that time. They are the only period rowhouses in Reading.</p><br>
<p>The rowhouses were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Samuel Foster House  is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts.</p><br>
<p>Samuel Foster, an early miller and farmer built the house in 1709 and his family resided in the building until Ebenezer Emerson purchased the house from the Fosters in 1769. Emerson served in the American Revolutionary War. The Meadow Brook Golf Club acquired the house and barn in 1912, and groundskeepers lived in the house from 1923 to the 1980s. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. In 1998 the house was moved from the golf course at 288 Grove Street to 409 Grove Street when it was no longer needed by the club, and there was a citywide effort to preserve the building from demolition.</p><br>
<p>The Samuel Parker House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts, United States. The front, gambrel-roofed portion of this house, was probably built in the mid-1790s, and the house as a whole reflects a vernacular Georgian-Federal style. The house is noted for a succession of working-class owners . Its most notable resident was Carrie Belle Kenney, one of the earliest female graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Smith Shoe Shop is a historic ten-footer shoe workshop at 273 Haverhill Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The small outbuilding is one of a few surviving remnants of the local cottage industry of shoemaking that flourished in the 19th century. These were called "ten footers" because of their relatively small size, and fell out of favor after the introduction of factory-based methods for shoe production in the decades following the American Civil War.</p><br>
<p>The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.</p><br>
<p>The Stephen Hall House is a historic house at 64 Minot Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story wood-frame house was built in the 1850s, and is one of Readings best examples of Gothic Victorian residential architecture. It has board-and-batten siding, long and narrow windows, and a central projecting gabled overhang with Gothic arched windows and a deep eave with brackets. Although it appears to be a near copy of a design published by Andrew Jackson Downing, its plan was apparently copied from a house in Wakefield, and is lacking some of Downings proportions.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Stillman Parker House is a historic house at 484 Summer Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts. Probably built in the 1850s, it is a rare local variant of transitional Federal/Greek Revival styling. The -story wood-frame house has a high-pitched roof which extends over the front porch, which is supported by fluted Doric columns. The doors and windows have Greek Revival architrave surrounds. The house belonged to Stillman Parker, a local shoe manufacturer who also served on the town&#39;s board of selectmen.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Stillman Pratt House is a historic house at 472 Summer Avenue in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story wood-frame house, probably built in the late 1840s, is a rare local variant of a combined Federal-Greek Revival style house. It follows the Federal style of placing the roof gables at the sides, but its roof extends over the front porch, which is supported by four fluted Doric columns. The house&#39;s corner pilasters are decorated with the Greek key motif, and its windows and doors have architrave surrounds with corner blocks.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Thomas Symonds House is a historic house at 320 Haverhill Street in Reading, Massachusetts. Built sometime between 1775 and 1836 by Thomas Symonds, Jr., it is the only Federal period brick-ended house in the town, and is unusually architecturally sophisticated for the period in the town. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Symonds House is set opposite Symonds Way on the west side of Haverhill Street, one of Reading&#39;s oldest north–south roads, and an early settlement area. Facing south, it is a large -story wood-frame structure, with a hip roof and four interior chimneys. Its end walls are brick, and the front and rear walls are finished in clapboards. Its front door surround is a conjectured 20th century replacement for an earlier surround. The entry on the north side has narrow pilasters, and is topped by a four-pane transom and an entablature with an elaborate cornice.</p><br>
<p>The house was built sometime between 1783 and 1836 by Thomas Symonds, Jr., whose father had made by 1750 accumulated significant land in the area. The relatively high Federal style of the house is unusual for Reading, and may have been the result of the influence of Salem builder Samuel McIntire, who was related to Symonds (also a Salem native) by marriage. The use of brick was probably a fashion statement, since Symonds owned a local sawmill, and lumber was readily available. The property now houses a hospice facility.</p><br>
<p>The Timothy Hartshorn House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. This -story wood-frame house was built c. 1787 by Timothy Hartshorn, a farmer and shoemaker, and remained in his family for over 100 years. It is a vernacular Georgian-Federal style, with five bays and a central chimney. The main entrance is flanked by sidelight windows and fluted pilasters, supporting an entablature with high capitals, but is somewhat obscured by the 19th century porch.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Walnut Street School is a historic school building at 55 Hopkins Street in Reading, Massachusetts. A two-room schoolhouse built in 1854, it is the town&#39;s oldest public building. Since 1962 it has been home to the Quannapowitt Players, a local theatrical company. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Walnut Street School is set on the west side of Hopkins Street in a residential area of southern Reading. It is a roughly rectangular single-story wood-frame structure, with its long axis perpendicular to the street. The building is finished in wooden clapboards, and has a gable roof whose eaves are studded with Italianate brackets. The building corners are pilastered. The street-facing facade is two bays wide, with each bay containing a pair of sash windows; there is a single sash window in the gable end. Most of the south facade is covered by a modern extended vestibule with a hip roof, and a projecting gable-roofed portico supported by round columns near the western end. One entrance is under the portico, while another is roughly centered on the extended vestibule.</p><br>
<p>The building was originally located at the intersection of Summer Avenue and Walnut Street in Reading, and housed two class-rooms when it was built in 1854. It is the oldest surviving civic building in the town. In 1883 the building was moved to its current location on Hopkins Street and renamed to the Chestnut Hill School. In 1884 the building&#39;s entrance was redesigned and its interior reconfigured, to plans by local architect Horace G. Wadlin. It was used as a school until 1944. In 1962 it was sold to the Quannapowitt Players, a local theatrical organization, which has further modified the entry and adapted the interior as a 150-seat theater.</p><br>
<p>The Washington Damon House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts, exhibiting the adaptation of existing housing stock to new architectural style. The -story wood-frame house was built in 1839, and was at the time a fairly conventional side hall Greek Revival house, although it has small wings on either side that also appear date to that period. It was significantly renovated in 1906, when the wraparound porch was added, as was the Palladian window in the front gable end. When made, these additions included Greek Revival elements that were sensitive to those already present on the structure.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Wendell Bancroft House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. Built in the late 1860s, it is one of the town&#39;s few surviving examples of residential Gothic Revival architecture, built for one of its leading businessmen of the period. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Wendell Bancroft House stands in a suburban residential neighborhood west of central Reading, at the northeastern corner of Washington and Woburn Streets. It is a -story wood-frame house, with a hip roof and clapboarded exterior. The roof has cross-gable dormers with steeply pitched roofs and decorative bargeboard trim, and the south facade has Gothic lancet windows. Windows are topped by small shedroof hoods supported by decorative brackets; the latter also appear on the main roof eave, the porch roof eave, and the eave of a bay window on the south side. The front porch has a hip roof supported by chamfered posts, and a turned spindle balustrade.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in the late 1860s, and is one of the few Gothic Revival houses in the town. It was built by Wendell Bancroft, a prominent local businessman and banker. He owned a coal and lumber yard, was a founding officer of the First National Bank of Reading, and was a director of two other local banks.</p><br>
<p>The William Parker House is a historic house at 55 Walnut Street in Reading, Massachusetts. The -story wood-frame house was built, was expanded early in the 19th century into a two family residence, and converted back into a single family in the early 20th century. It is notable for its association with William Parker, a dissenter from the doctrines espoused by the local Congregational Church. In 1849 he joined with other members of his extended family in splitting the congregation.</p><br>
<p>In 1910 the house was purchased by Walter Scott Hopkins, a Boston merchant. Hopkins hired a local architect, Willard P. Adden, to return the house to its original single-family configuration and restore and renovate the house for use as a family home. Hopkins only owned the house for a few years before selling it to Adden, though he too only lived there briefly, moving in 1918. Adden later moved to Woburn Street.</p><br>
<p>The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.</p><br>
<p>The Allyn House is a historic house in Arlington, Massachusetts. Built about 1898, it is a prominent local example of Craftsman style architecture. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Allyn House stands in the Arlington Heights neighborhood, on the southeast side of Oakland Avenue roughly midway between Cedar Avenue and Gray Street. It occupies an irregular diamond-shaped lot, and is (unlike its neighbors) oriented at an angle to the street. The front of the lot is demarcated by a low rubblestone wall. The house is a -story wood-frame structure, with a stuccoed exterior and brown wooden trim. It has a hip roof with extended eaves, punctuated by hip-roofed dormers with shingled sides. Its front facade is dominated by a full-height polygonal bay, with a band of narrow casement windows in the center section, and single windows on the angled sides. Other Craftsman details include exposed rafter ends and a number of diamond-pane windows.</p><br>
<p>Significant development in the Arlington Heights area began following the 1872 purchase of the Pierce family properties by the Arlington Land Company. The lot this house stands on was among the Arlington Land Company holdings, and the house was built about 1898. It was owned for many years by Phillip M. Allyn, a publisher who worked in Boston. It is a particularly fine local example of Craftsman architecture.</p><br>
