Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 X State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested - Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National _ Local government Register - University - designated a National Historic Landmark - Other - recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Vame of repository # - recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Sectionnumer 7 Page_ 1 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Main Street Diner Woburn (Middlesex), MA 7. Description The only diner in Woburn, Main Street Diner, 901 Main Street (1952) is very important architecturally in Massachusetts as one of the first diners built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company with a stainless steel exterior. Custom-built in 1952 for this site as Worcester diner #834, Main Street Diner is quite small given its period of construction and its seating capacity of approximately thirty to thirty-six people. The diner is also distinctive for combining a stainless steel exterior with largely wood finishes on the interior. Main Street Diner is located at the southern end of the small business district at North Woburn, on State Route 38 (Main Street), which is a secondary artery through several suburban towns northwest of Boston.
Surrounding development is a mix of commercial and residential uses. The diner is situated at the sidewalk and patrons park their cars on the street. While placed very close to the adjacent one-story brick-clad storefront block (early 20"" century), the diner is not attached to the block and occupies a separate building lot. The diner has stainless steel cladding that incorporates horizontal bands in royal blue porcelain enamel. Five bays wide and four bays deep with a projecting entry vestibule, the diner has a high concrete foundation and a low-pitched rounded hip roof clad in asphalt shingles. The projecting entry vestibule, centered on the facade, is a character-defining feature of stainless steel diners of the 1950s. The vestibule here is square, one bay by one bay, with a steel and glass door on the south side only.
There is a secondary entry on the north elevation of the diner that is unused and does not have exterior stairs. Both entries retain original steel and glass doors. Over the interior door in the entry vestibule is the manufacturer's tag, which reads WORCESTER DINERS, WORCESTER, MASS. #834. Windows in the diner are stainless steel with plate glass; some retain painted transoms. Ornamental details executed in the exterior steel include fluted pilasters between windows, and a diamond quilted design in the frieze. The diner has a concrete block rear kitchen addition (ca. 1952), one bay deep, with steel sash and an exterior brick chimney on the east (rear) elevation. This addition is unobtrusive and does not compromise the integrity of the 1952 diner. Signage for the diner consists of a non- illuminated, roof-mounted board sign.
On the interior, Main Street Diner features an L-shaped counter placed right of center with an off-center staff entrance. The countertop is replacement plastic laminate. The twelve steel counter stools have seat backs and are replacements; holes and markings on the tile floor reveal where the location of stools has been modified. Booths along the west (front) wall were recently replaced with two parallel rows of two-seat tables. The diner retains its original interior color scheme of light blue, cream, and black tiles, with stainless steel accents.
A similar color scheme is seen in another Boston-area, Worcester-built diner constructed about the same time, Wilson's Diner, 507 Main Street, Waltham (1949, NRIND 1999) Other intact interior finishes at Main Street Diner include the counter apron and footrest, both tiled; a steel back bar with sunburst motif at the center flanked by wood built-in shelves; and tile walls below the windows and with wood paneling above. Entries are trimmed in wood on the interior and there is a large, wood-framed mirror built into the windowless wall at the south end of the interior. Centered over the kitchen entrance is a steel-rimmed clock that reads WORCESTER DINERS. (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-8 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7/8 Page_2/1 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Main Street Diner Woburn (Middlesex), MA Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are recorded on the nominated property, it is possible that sites are present. Three sites are recorded in the general area (within one mile). Environmental characteristics of the property also represent favorable locational ctiteria (soil drainage, slope, distance to wetlands) for many types of prehistoric sites. The property is situated on a well-drained level to moderately sloping land surface within 1000 feet of Hall's Brook and other unidentified wetlands. The area is part of the Ipswich River drainage. In general, however, the potential for locating significant prehistoric resources on the property is low.
Installation of a previous diner on the property by 1937 or earlier, construction of the present diner by 1952 and installation of utilities on the small, less than one acre parcel have probably impacted any prehistoric resources that might exist on the property. There is also a low potential for locating significant historical archaeological resources on the property. No historic resources have been identified on the property predating Shipper's Diner definitely by 1937, possibly as early as 1927. Confusion appears to exist about when Shipper's Diner was removed and exactly when the Main Street Diner was installed leading some sources to date the construction of the Diner to 1927. Additional historical research, structural analysis of the diner and possibly archaeological research might help clarity the extent to which the Main Diner replaced an earlier structure on the property.
Structural remains from an earlier 20" century diner and its utilities would generally have limited research potential. However, the presence of earlier structural remains from a diner on the property may clarify the construction date for the Diner. (end) 8. Statement of Significance Main Street Diner, Woburn (1952), originally known as Jack's Diner and later as Stella's Diner, is significant as one of the first diners with a stainless steel exterior produced by the Worcester Lunch Car Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. The diner illustrates the company's efforts after World War Il to update its diner line, which previously had consisted largely of the traditional New England barrel-roof form with porcelain enamel panels on the exterior. Locally, the diner is the only building of its type in Woburn and represents a history of diner use on the site that dates back over sixty years.
For these reasons, Main Street Diner is of exceptional significance at the state and local levels. Retaining integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, Main Street Diner meets Criteria A and C and Criteria Consideration G of the National Register. Main Street Diner is the second diner to occupy the present site. As early as 1937, Shipper's Diner, also built by Worcester Lunch Car Company, operated at 901 Main Street. [Woburn directories; Cultrera] The Woburn directory of (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page_ 2 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Main Street Diner Woburn (Middlesex), MA that year lists the proprietor of Shipper's Diner as Dana M.
Hoye, who had worked previously as the counterman at a restaurant located at 902 [sic] Main Street and operated by Richard Cantillon. Little information has been located about Hoye, who resided at 960 (rear) Main Street. The Woburn Daily Times recorded Hoye's marriage to Mary Cox in 1934. [Woburn Daily Times index cards] Shipper's Diner was one of forty-one restaurants and other eating establishments in Woburn in 1937, and the only one described as a diner in the city's business directory. [1937 directory] Records of the Worcester Lunch Car Company note that the current custom-built diner, then named Jack's Diner, was delivered to North Woburn on May 22, 1952. [Worcester Lunch Car Company index cards] The records do not, however, note the name of the proprietor of Jack's Diner.
Woburn directories from 1952 through 1970 list Jack's Diner but do not name the proprietor of the diner in those listings. It appears likely that the owner of Jack's Diner, seeking to upgrade his facility as was common among diner proprietors, contracted with the Worcester company to build the new diner to fit the site at 901 Main Street. The selection of a stainless steel model, as opposed to the traditional barrel-roofed Worcester-built lunch car, signaled a desire for a diner with a more modern appearance, in keeping with trends in diner design following World War II. Main Street Diner is known to have an important role in the evolution of diner design in Massachusetts. The diner represents an effort by Worcester Lunch Car Company to update the appearance of its diners by adding stainless steel to the porcelain enamel on the exteriors.
The traditional barrel-roofed diner form for which the Worcester company was best known encountered stiff competition from the manufacturers of stainless steel diners, who offered much larger diners, built and transported in sections, as well as newer forms and finishes. According to diner historian Richard Gutman, potential buyers of Worcester diners had been complaining for years that the company wasn't building anything up-to-date. [Gutman, 151] In response, in 1952 Worcester began manufacturing its own interpretation of the stainless steel diner. Main Street Diner, Worcester diner #834, is one of the earliest examples, combining an updated exterior with the small-scale, wood-and-tile interior that had long characterized a Worcester diner.
The refusal of Philip Duprey, owner of Worcester Lunch Car Company from 1906 through the 1950s, to invest any money in the company to retool for building stainless steel diners, cost the company customers. [Gutman, 161] Worcester Lunch Car Company sold four diners in 1955 and its last diner in 1957. The company went out of business in 1961. At least three other Worcester diners from 1952 or later have been identified in Massachusetts: the Bostonian Restaurant, 116 Cambridge Street, Boston (1955, completely remodeled); Henry's Diner, 247 Western Avenue, Allston/Boston (1953, interior remodeled); and Webbie's Lynn Diner, 38 Bennett Street, Lynn (1952). Of these, Main Street Diner is the only stainless steel example. In 1975, Main Street Diner, by then known as Stella's, was the subject of a watercolor painting by artist John Baeder (b. 1938 in South Bend, Indiana).
The large neon standing sign depicted just in front of the diner in the painting was removed about 1990. Baeder was raised in Atlanta and studied art at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. During his early career as art director of a New York-based advertising agency, Baeder began collecting vintage postcards, (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8/9 Page_3/1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Main Street Diner Woburn (Middlesex), MA eventually focusing his collection on roadside views of small-town America, including gas stations, motels, restaurants, and diners. Baeder's early paintings were based on these postcard images. In 1972, after quitting his job in advertising, Baeder had his first art show at the O. K.
Harris Gallery in Soho (New York City). By the time of his second show in 1974, Baeder was painting diners almost exclusively, partly due to a shift in his collecting activities from postcards to the color and black-and-white photographs he took of diners. He was labeled a photorealist painter, though he considers himself a representational landscape painter, representing an image of the landscape that impresses him. [Diners, 103] In addition to Main Street Diner, Baeder's works include several other diners in Massachusetts, among them Ted's Diner (1974, watercolor) in Milford; Casey's (1974, watercolor) in Natick; the former Alice in the Hat (1974, watercolor) in Worcester; Sisson's (1975, watercolor) in Middleborough; Viv's (later Judy's Diner, 1976, pencil); and Day and Night (1977, watercolor) in Palmer.
The large number of his diner paintings led to the publication of his book, Diners (1978, revised and updated 1995). Other books by Baeder include Gas, Food, and Lodging: A Postcard Odyssey through the Great American Roadside (1982) and Sign Language: Street Signs as Folk Art (1996). He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. (end) 9. Major Bibliographical References Interview with diner historian Larry Cultrera (also author of "Diner Hotline," a regular feature in Society of Commercial Archeology's Journal), November 19, 1998. Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner Then and Now. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. Worcester Lunch Car Company Record Books: 1914-1967. File cards for diners manufactured by the company (800- number diners). Worcester Historical Museum. Manning's Woburn and Winchester Directory: 1925, 1932, 1937.
Woburn Guide & Directory: 1952-1953, 1955 through 1970 (inclusive). Woburn Public Library. Woburn Public Library, index card file to the Woburn Daily Times and the Woburn Advocate. Friedman, Rick. "Different and delicious dining on Main Street." Woburn Advocate. November 7, 1991. p.19. Lingblom, Marie. "Main street diner seeks landmark recognition." Woburn Advocate. February 29, 1996. p.15. Diner Finder Deluxe: Massachusetts. Watertown, MA: Coffee Cup Publications, 1991. Baeder, John. Diners. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1978. Pryor, William Harlan. "Postcards from the road." Classic Automobile, Fall 1997 (via www.classicautomobile.com). (end) Main Street Diner (preferred) Name of Property 10.
Geographical Data Middlesex County, Massachusetts County and State Acreage of Property less than one acre UTM References See continuation sheet (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1. 19 Zone 2. Zone 322460 Easting Easting 4708300 Northing Northing 3. Zone Easting 4. Zone Easting - See continuation sheet Northing Northing erbal Boundary Descriptio Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet. Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title. Kathleen Kelly Broomer, consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization. Massachusetts Historical Commission date. October 2000 street & number_ 220 Morrissey Boulevard _ telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town.
Boston state_Massachusetts _ zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property.
Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete thisitem at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name_ Owen Abdalian and Ranu Ahmed street & number 901 C Main Street _ telephone 781-935-5682 city or town Woburn stateMA _zip code_ 01801 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.). Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.NPS Form 10-900 1024-0018 (Rev.
10-90) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 10 Page 1 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Main Street Diner Woburn (Middlesex), MA 10. Geographical Data Verbal Boundary Description The boundary of the nominated property is shown on the accompanying detail of the City of Woburn's assessors' map. Boundary Justification The boundary includes the entire parcel that has been historically associated with the diner.
(end) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME : Jack's Diner MULTIPLE NAME: Diners of Massachusetts MPS STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Middlesex DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 10/10/00 11/08/00 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 10/23/00 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 11/24/00 REFERENCE NUMBER: 00001340 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: Y OTHER: N PDIL: N PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N ACCEPT RETURN REJECT DATE ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS: RECOM./CRITERIA_ accept Açc latick Andles REVIEWER DISCIPLINE Wisterien TELEPHONE DATE 11/22/00 DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N DPEN DINCR FHH PIZZA main Street Diner 901 maiuStreet wobum Diners of massachusetts MPS Photo: 1998 Neg: MHC VIRU NE main street Diner 901 maiustreet wobum Diners of massachusets MPs Photo: 1998 Neg: MHC VieW NE E PETI SHE HBAKATO The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission October 6, 2000 Ms.
Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service Mail Stop 2280, Suite 400 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Main Street Diner, 901 Main Street, Woburn (Middlesex), MA THE DINERS OF MASSACHUSETTS MPS The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the property were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely, Betsy tredhey Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Owen Abdalian, Main Street Diner athleen Kelly Broomer, Preservation Consultan Thomas Smith, Woburn Historical Commissiot Mayor Robert Dever, City of Woburn Woburn Planning Department 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 - (617) 727-8470 Fax: (617) 727-5128 - TTY: (617) 878-3889 www.state.ma.us/sec/mhc
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