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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service JED National Register of Historic Places Registration Form JUL 16 2001 This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts//See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking."X" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter I'N/A't for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a).
Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name H. F. BARROWS MANUFACTURING COMPANY BUILDING other names/site number_ 2. Location street & number. 102 South Washington Street - _ not for publication city or town. North Attleborough - vicinity state_ Massachusetts code__MA county Bristol code_ 005 _ zip code _02760 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of1986, as amended, I hereby certity that this E nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property meetsdoes not meetthe National Register Criteria.
I recommend that thispropertybe considered significant - nationally - statewide Dlocally. (- See continuation sheet for additional comments.) Brona Signature of certifying official/Title Brona Simon, State Archaeologist July 10, 2001 Date Massachusetts Historical Commission, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. (] See continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4.
National Park Service Certification 1, hereby certify that this property is: M entered in the National Register ] See continuation sheet J determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet J determined not eligible for the National Register - removed from the National Register - other (explain): Signature of the Keeper ENTERED AUG 30 2001 Date of Action Barrows Building Name of Property 5.
Classification Ownership of Propert (Check as many boxes as apply - private x public-local -public-State - public-Federal Bristol, MA County and State (Check only one box) x building(s) _ district - site _ structure - object umber of Resources within Proper Do not include previously listed resources in the coun Contributing 1 Noncontributing _building sites _ structures objects Total 1 2 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) n/a 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) INDUSTRY/manufacturing Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) VACANT 7.
Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) LATE VICTORIAN/Other: Industrial Romanesque Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation brick wallsbrick roof other composition Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) OME Aaprovel Na 1021-0016 pesfom 10s00 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ 1 Page 7. Narrative Description Barrows Building North Attleborough (Bristol), MA - The H. F. Barrows Manufacturing Company Building is a one- and two-story, L-plan, brick industrial building located on a lot at the corner of South Washington and Chestnut Streets at the southern edge of downtown North Attleborough, MA.
Immediately to the south and wes are small-scale commercial buildings from the mid- and late twentieth century. Across Eas Street to the east are small-scale 20th-century industrial buildings. Land to the north is now dedicated to park use. The building's monumental presence signals the transition in development patterns from large-scale late 19th-and early 20th-century housing that spreads south along South Washington Street to the commercial blocks of the town's central business district to the north. Occupying the south and west edges of its approximately twenty-thousand-square-foot lot, the building stands approximately 10-15 feet back from the street.
A grass strip fills the space between sidewalk and building; evergreen shrubs clipped into spheroid geometric shapes line the sidewalkstothe building, and more rectilinear-shaped shrubs stand as foundation planting in front of the west elevation. EXTERIOR Constructed in 1905 of hard-pressed red brick with light-grey granite trim, the Barrows Building is best understood as a two-story, flat-roof office block, approximately thirty-feet square, withtwoone-story,flat-roof manufacturing wings that extend approximately 80 feet northerly along South Washington Street and 70 feet easterly along Chestnut Street. A prominent three-stage clock tower with pyramidal-hip roof is set at a forty-five-degree angle to the corner of the west and south elevations.
The building is set on a high brick basement with large windows illuminating the basement story and a stone water table separating the basement and first story. On the principal street elevations, the wall planes of the manufacturing sections are set back from those of the office block, and architectural articulation further distinguishes, externally, the separate interior functions. The two-story office block has its principal entrance in the diagonal corner tower, and the south and west walls, framed by colossal pilaster strips, are articulated into three bays (photo 1).
The tower's three sections include the base, with front entrance, reached by eight granite steps, set within a round-arch porch; a three-panel shaft--with three narrow windows and a centered datestone on the corner elevation--that culminates in a round-arch corbel cornice; and a simple, cubical cap with round clock on all elevations. The tower's pyramidal roof has louvered round- arch dormers on all four elevations. The principal entrance, set within the porch, has double-leaf single-panel glazed doors below a multiple-pane fanlight. The three-bay side walls have arcaded first stories. A continuous impost crosses the arches, which are blind above the impost, and forms the lintels of the paired double-hung-sash windows set below each arch.
Above the first story is a corbel cornice that connects the framing pilaster strips and serves as a continuous sill for the three double-hung-sash windows grouped above each of the first-story arches. A round-arch corbel cornice, the front of a parapet that rises above the flat roof, extends around all four elevations of (continued) UPS Forma 10-800 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - 7 Page - 2 OMG Aaprovel Na 1024-0018 Barrows Building North Attleborough (Bristol), MA the office block. -The principal elevations of the manufacturing wings are arcaded, like the office block, into fifteen bays on the South Washington Street wing and eleven bays on the Chestnut Street wing.
Secondary entrances to the building are in the manufacturing wings immediately adjacent to the office block: the westernmost bay on Chestnut Street and the southernmost bay on South Washington Street. The wings' arches, however, are smaller in scale, absent the continuous impost through the arches (imposts are, however, made of granite), and fully glazed, with multiple-pane wooden hopper windows below fixed panes above the spring of the arch. The corbel cornice on the wings, the front of a parapet like that on the office, is similar to that on the office block. The north and east elevations of the wings, visible from the street, continue the articulation of the wings' principal elevations. The rear of the wings, however, lack the granite imposts and corbel cornice (photo 2).
At the intersection of the two manufacturing wings on the building's rear within the nook of the L is a one-story four-bay-square ell that extends northeast from the interior corner. On the ell's northeast corner is a square-plan smokestack that tapers from a stringcourse above the first story level and stands only twenty-five feet high; damaged by lightning in the mid-1990s, it was thereafter shortened. A small, wood-frame addition, in place by 1911, extends east from the east elevation of the north manufacturing wing In the grass strip front of the west elevation of the office block is a contributing granite boulder, approximately six feet long and two feet high, with a rectangular bronze marker, approximately eighteen by twenty-four inches.
The marker reads, "ON THIS LAND IN 1780 WAS MADE THE FIRST JEWELRY IN THE ATTLEBOROUGHS." INTERIOR The interior articulation and ornamentation of the building reflect the difference in use established by the exterior: more finished for the office section and simple for the manufacturing The principal entrance into the office block leads to a lobby with plaster walls and dark-stained woodwork, including matchboard wainscot and simple window and door frames. Centered on the north wall is a Seth Thomas Regulator No. 63 hanging clock with a mahogany case, originally connected to the clocktower with a circuit closer (photo #3). Transom lights above the interior doors have frosted glass divided by leaded muntins into attenuated hexagons. On the east wall a door leads from the lobby to two offices en suite to the east.
Both offices have plaster walls and beveled-panel wainscot, while the easternmost office has a small closet on the west side of the north wall and a fireplace placed diagonally across the northeast corner. The fireplace has a one- story Federal Revival mantel, and the closet has a sink with marble counter and backsplash (photo tho nor heasn dostory the lobby lead tora al o o te man alc leads tone manufacturing wings. (continued) prsfa 10004 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page 3 OMB Approvel Na. 1021-0016 Barrows Building North Attleborough (Bristol), MA Within the uppermost level of the clocktower is a Seth Thomas No. 15 Tower Clock, installed in 1907 and restored to working order in 1996. The manufacturing and second-story spaces are simple, unremarkable, and reworked.
The manufacturing wings are largely open space divided principally by centered rows of cast-iron columns supporting each rafter that extend down their centers (photo #5). Finishes in the wings are diagonally laid yellow-pine floors, brick walls, and beaded-board ceilings. The partitions that subdivide the space reflect changing needs in the manufacturing process and should not be considered significant to the building's historical character. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are recorded on the Barrows Building property, it is possible that sites are present. One prehistoric site is recorded in the general area (within one mile) northeast of the property bordering a wetland area.
Additional important concentrations of prehistoric sites are present in the region approximately two to three miles south and southeast of the nominated property along the Seven Mile, Ten Mile and Bungay Rivers. Environmental characteristics of the property also indicate locational criteria (slope, soil drainage, distance to wetlands) that are considered favorable indicators for many types of prehistoric sites. The Barrows Building is located on a level to moderately sloping terrace within 1000feet of the west bank of the Ten Mile River. Soils on the property were also probably well drained prior to their disturbance from building construction.
Given the above information, the potential for locating prehistoric sites on the Barrows Building property was originally high, however, impacts related to construction of the building, which has a basement and covers most of the lot, indicate the current potential for recovering archaeological resources either prehistoric or historic is low. A bronze marker set in a boulder in front of the building's west elevation reads "On this land in 1780 was made the first jewelry in the Attleboroughs." It is unknown whether the marker was set to commemorate a jewelry manufacture in "The Attleboroughs." (end) : Barrows Building Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance