National Register of Historic Places

Greendale Village Improvement Society Building

Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Listed
November 7, 1976
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
76000949

About this property

The Greendale Village Improvement Society Building is a historic building at 480 W. Boylston Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built in 1897, it is an important reminder of the role community organizations played in making civic improvements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Greendale Village Improvement Society Building stands on the east side of West Boylston Street in northeastern Worcester, between Airlie Street to the north and the Frances Perkins Branch Library. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a hip roof and clapboarded exterior. A three-story square tower rises to a flared pyramidal roof at its southwestern corner, and a large gable is set above the central bay of the west-facing front facade. At the center of that gable are a pair of sash windows, with a half-round fan above. The bay below the gable also projects slightly, with an entrance porch projecting further. The interior of the building is laid out with a kitchen and dining room in the basement, a small meeting space and library on the ground floor, and a large meeting hall on the second floor. The Greendale Improvement Society was founded in 1895 as a community vehicle to improve conditions in Worcester's Greendale neighborhood. In 1897, it was rechartered as the Greendale Village Improvement Society, and was given land by the Kendrick family on which to build a meeting house. The society raised funds and had this building erected in 1900. The society was a significant presence in the local community, building, maintaining, and plowing roads in the community in its early years, lobbying the city for fire protection, and providing for trash removal. After the Second World War, the building was used to house veterans organizations. National Register of Historic Places listings in eastern Worcester, Massachusetts

Location

480 W. Boylston St.
Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts
42.30777, -71.79910

Categories

SOCIAL HISTORY
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Greendale Branch Library
Industrial
0 mi
Giguere, Thomas, Three-Decker
Industrial
0.1 mi
Larson, Swan, Three-Decker
Industrial
0.1 mi
Petterson, Lars-Adolph Carlson Three-Decker
Industrial
0.2 mi
Petterson, Lars-Silas Archer Three-Decker
Industrial
0.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Greendale Village Improvement Society Building listed on the National Register?

Greendale Village Improvement Society Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1976.

What type of historic resource is Greendale Village Improvement Society Building?

Greendale Village Improvement Society Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Greendale Village Improvement Society Building?

The period of significance for Greendale Village Improvement Society Building is recorded as the industrial era.

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