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 Name 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 Section number_8 Page 1. OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA NARRATIVE STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Goldsmith Block is significant for its association with the diverse ethnic, religious, and social classes occupying the Lower Roxbury neighborhood centered around Dudley Square in the last century. The building retains its architectural integrity and historical significance as one of the last Classical Revival-style apartment blocks in the Dudley Square area to survive the urban renewal plans of the 1960s. The Goldsmith Block possesses integrity of location, design, setting, feeling, materials, and workmanship; as such it is eligible for individual listing on the National Register under Criteria A and C. Significant at the local level, the building's period of significance extends from its construction in 1892 to 1957.
Development of Lower Roxbury and Dudley Square Incorporated as a city in 1846 with a population of 15,000, Roxbury was primarily an agricultural community on the outskirts of the City of Boston. Within that greater context, Washington Street, which still runs through Dudley Square and Lower Roxbury into downtown Boston, was the only land-based access via Boston Neck to the City of Boston. As such, Dudley Square was the intersection of major roadways from the north, south, and west. As early as 1827, one could pay a fare on a horse-drawn carriage passing through Dudley Square into the City. By 1856, a street railroad passed through Dudley Square, and by 1867 Roxbury as a whole was annexed by the City of Boston.
With this increased traffic through Dudley Square and access to lands outside of downtown Boston, the area in and around Dudley Square became a popular hub of commercial and residential activity. In the late 1880s, the electric streetcar came to Roxbury, spurring an increase in building activity in Lower Roxbury. Old wood-frame structures from the mid 19th century were quickly replaced with mid- to large-scale masonry commercial, hotel, and residential structures. The introduction of the elevated railway system through Lower Roxbury and into Dudley Square (its southern terminus) in 1889-1901 brought with it a large population boom that encouraged more residential development in the area, including the Goldsmith Block. To serve new residents of the Lower Roxbury area, churches, synagogues, movie theaters, and other gathering places were also developed throughout the neighborhood.
The settlement of Lower Roxbury is inextricably linked to Dudley Square's importance as a major transportation hub. Utilized first as the major access point into the City of Boston, the Lower Roxbury area grew out from Dudley Square. With the introduction of relatively inexpensive mass transit through Lower Roxbury, waves of immigrant populations moved out from the city center and into new residential areas created in and around Dudley Square. By the turn of the 20" century, the population of Lower Roxbury was a thriving, diverse, immigrant neighborhood living in a dense urban area bearing little resemblance to Roxbury's agrarian past. Notably, new structures, including the Goldsmith Block, were built on filled marshlands located along both sides of Washington Street between Dudley Square and the South End neighborhood.
(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 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA Immigrant Groups in Lower Roxbury Between 1830 -1870, the population in Roxbury grew by nine times as a result of the expansion of the streetcar and the opening up of new land for development. Following in the footsteps of the new development in the South End, residential development flooded into Lower Roxbury along the streetcar lines. By 1890, a development pattern in Lower Roxbury similar to that of the South End was clearly defined by the construction of row upon row of brick, single-family row houses, schools, and residential hotels centered on "Madison Square" at the fringe of the South End.
Roxbury's overall population had swelled to 43,439 by 1870. The enormous population increase was a direct result of the influx of thousands of immigrants, who had originally settled in the North End and West End, moving to the Lower Roxbury area in search of better living conditions. In the 1870s and 1880s the Irish were Roxbury's largest immigrant group, In the 1890s, Jews began leaving their working-class neighborhoods of the old city to settle in newly developed areas of Roxbury. Between 1875 and 1925, between 50-75,000 Jewish immigrants arrived and settled in Boston, many migrating to the Lower Roxbury neighborhood where family and friends had already settled. In the 1890s, the demand for housing in the area increased as the emerging Jewish immigrant population sought out better living conditions outside the crowded and unsanitary center city.
Synagogues were constructed to serve this population, which steadily moved from the present theater district, through the South End, and finally into Lower Roxbury and Dorchester. The Congregation Mishkan Tefila (no longer extant) was located at the corner of Madison Street prse icker distic tirones he aoul oe and Shawmut Avenue just outside Madison Square. Located only a few blocks away on Vernon Street, Saint Francis de Sales Church (no longer extant) served the Irish Catholic population. Shops, stores, and business in the neighborhood supported this new emerging working class. This diverse population exploded by 1935 to 225,634 residents, many of whom were African-Americans relocating from the southern states.
Establishment of the Goldsmith Block, a Multi-family Dwelling in Lower Roxbury Many stylish blocks of row houses with Mansard roofs sprung up in the area to house the growing immigrant population in the late 19" century. By 1892, however, a definitive change occurred in the housing market in Lower Roxbury. Many of the single-family row houses and hotels, constructed only a few decades earlier, were converted into multi-family rental flats almost overnight. Responding to this new demand for multi-family dwellings to house the growing population of Lower Roxbury, Simon Goldsmith, a local real estate developer, purchased several lots of land from Augustus Bacon and constructed a twenty-unit apartment building at the corner of Ruggles Street and Shawmut Avenue.
The introduction of this new, larger dwelling form reflected the change in how Bostonians were housed, from small row houses to multi-unit structures with shared public spaces. (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 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA Simon Goldsmith was born in Massachusetts in 1855 to German-Jewish immigrants. By the age of 37, Goldsmith had purchased several house lots in the Lower Roxbury section of the city and had begun to establish himself as a landowner in the neighborhood. Leading the Jewish population southward, Goldsmith first purchased land in this predominately Irish neighborhood as early as 1890.
His first development in the area was located on Goldsmith Place, now known as Ruggles Court (this area is currently vacant and functions as a parking lot behind 2201 Washington Street) immediately adjacent to the Dudley Station Historic District. Like many real estate developers in the late 19" century in Lower Roxbury, Goldsmith originally developed single family row houses made popular in the neighboring South End. Goldsmith himself owned and lived in a two- story, single family house adjacent to Goldsmith Place at 28 Ruggles Street, possibly as a way to clearly identify himself and his family as middle class in this emerging working class neighborhood. While Goldsmith was in residence at Goldsmith Place, a large lot of filled marshland directly across the street sat undeveloped. In 1887, a developer named Edward Morse attempted, but failed, to construct housing on the parcel.
By 1890, the land changed ownership again and was subdivided into individual house lots. Likely tempted by the appealing real estate across from his own home on Goldsmith Place, Goldsmith purchased the land from Augustus Bacon by 1892 and began planning a new project. Concurrent with Goldsmith's land purchase, the conversion of single family row houses into multi-family apartments was underway to house the thousands of new immigrants flooding into the area. In response to this change in housing stock and increase in lower income occupants, Goldsmith abandoned the rowhouse form, and engaged the services of Cornelius A Russell, architect, to design an apartment house at the corner of Ruggles Street and Shawmut Avenue. Goldsmith Block Architect The Goldsmith Block was designed in 1892 by Cornelius A. Russell, an architect who specialized in residential construction.
Russell designed single family houses and apartment/commercial blocks in the Cities of Boston and Chelsea as well as the Towns of Duxbury, Brookline, and Manchester. With the exception of one Colonial Revival style, commercial/apartment block constructed in 1908 in Chelsea, all of Russell's multi-family designs were constructed in Boston. Within the City of Boston, Russell focused his efforts primarily in the newly filled and opened lands in Roxbury, Mission Hill, and Jamaica Plain where the construction boom during the last quarter of the 19" and first quarter of the 20* century was focused The Inventory of Historic and Archaeological Assets of the Commonwealth identifies many structures designed by this architect including several listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Russell's earliest design in Boston was for a single-family, wood frame house at 4 Aspen Street in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Roxbury in 1890, a property listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Mount Pleasant Historic District (1989). After this commission, Russell began to focus almost entirely on multi-family residential construction in the Lower Roxbury, Mission Hill, and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods. Designing in (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 _4 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA the popular Classical Revival and Romanesque styles, Russell constructed a number of three-deckers, double houses, and apartment houses between 1892 and 1900.
The Goldsmith Block clearly displays Russell's interest in the Classical Revival and Romanesque Revival styles. Russell's restrained use of brick detailing, paired with the rusticated Romanesque Revival doorway arches with oversized keystones, monumental granite stairs and watertable, and heavy stone window lintels significantly defines the street corner, originally surrounded by undeveloped land and small-scale rowhouses. Its presence redefined this neighborhood, which immediately saw the demolition of the older, single- and two- family rowhouses and replacement with large four-story apartment blocks along Shawmut Avenue, many with ground-floor retail spaces. The Goldsmith Block is the only four- story brick apartment block currently identified in the Inventory as attributed to Russell.
Although not a departure from his other works stylistically, the building's size is a marked change from Russell's more modestly sized three-story, brick and wood frame buildings of this period. In addition, it is the only extant historic apartment block, devoted entirely to housing, remaining in this section of Lower Roxbury. Redevelopment of the Goldsmith Block Like many Jewish immigrants in Boston, Simon Goldsmith's personal goal was likely to move out of the working class neighborhood of Lower Roxbury to the middle class in Boston society. His eye for the changing needs of the immigrant population resulted in Goldsmith achieving this goal. His successful real estate business ultimately propelled Simon and his wife, Fanny, to Marlborough Street in the fashionable Back Bay neighborhood of Boston by 1920.
When Goldsmith's original tenants moved into the building in 1892, they consisted almost entirely of Jewish, Irish, and Canadian immigrant families with heads of the household occupying positions such as merchant, teamster, shipper, and a number of lodginghouse keepers. Typical of the turn of the century families living in and around Dudley Square, the Goldsmith's tenants were skilled workers who spoke English and most were born in this country. By 1910, families with several children dominated the building, some even employing a servant. However, several of the units were utilized as lodginghouses with several unrelated people sharing an apartment, many of which were headed by women. By 1920, the Jewish immigrant population in Lower Roxbury was firmly entrenched with the pre-existing Irish- immigrant population.
Local shops and businesses catered to a lower-income population, regardless of their ethnicity, and many of their owners and employees also lived in the neighborhood. Residents of the Goldsmith Block during this period were of two decidedly different worlds: half coming to Boston from places like Ireland, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton, while the second group hailed primarily from Russia. Speaking Yiddish as their primary language, this latter group of immigrants altered the dynamic of the apartment block by bringing more families into the mix. Residents held positions such as shopkeepers, drivers, clerks, and factory workers. (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 5 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA By this time, Goldsmith had sold the apartment building to Ira Shapira, a Russian-born Jew. Like many parts of the City of Boston, the immigrant population in Lower Roxbury continued to rise, adding pressure to the housing market. In response to this demand, Shapira subdivided the building into forty smaller units in 1924. Although the number of units increased, the size of families living in the building did not decrease. As a result, the building, like many others in the neighborhood, became overcrowded and deteriorated, and living conditions began to decline. Interestingly, although many buildings in the area were home to African-American families, primarily relocating from Southern states during this period, no African-American tenants occupied the Goldsmith Block in the 1920s.
Despite the changing ethnic diversity of the Lower Roxbury area during the first quarter of the 20" century, the Goldsmith Block remained under the ownership of Jewish-Russian immigrants: Ira Shapira in the 1920s, and Abraham Berkman, Max Uroff, and then Herman Leavitt in the 1930s. Although the building consistently passed through the hands of Jewish immigrants, it was not until 1930 that the ethnicity of the tenants shifted. By that time, not a single Jewish or Irish family lived in the building which then housed African-American families relocating from the South and emigrating from countries such as Barbados and Portugal. In some cases, residents of the building supported large extended families as a chef or a cook. Others worked as janitors in apartment houses or worked as laborers in nearby shops and businesses.
This deep-rooted African-American population has been documented by historians in Lower Roxbury as the 20"* century progressed. In the last 70 years, the Lower Roxbury area (and Roxbury as a whole) has become one of the largest, predominately African- American neighborhoods in the City of Boston. Conclusion The history of the Goldsmith Block is a microcosm of the history of the immigrant working class in the Lower Roxbury neighborhood. In steady streams, the Irish, Jewish, and eventually African-American working class lived, worked, and owned property in this neighborhood. Like the now-demolished tenements of the West End in Boston, the Goldsmith Block was built in response to the increasing need to house new immigrants who came to the United States and settled in Boston.
This new building type in the area, the apartment block, answered the market's demand for multi-family housing in a way that no other extant building type could in this neighborhood. Its conversion in 1924 to smaller apartments was also a response to the neighborhood's need for more housing. Its survival of the urban renewal of the 1960s is a testament to its adaptability to shelter any social class or ethnic group, having been continually occupied since 1892. The very existence of this building illustrates its continued importance to a neighborhood partially destroyed by the City of Boston's urban renewal plans and subsequent disinvestment. (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 6 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA Following the urban renewal of the 1960s, including the construction of Melnea Cass Boulevard several blocks north of the Goldsmith Block, it has now become apparent, some 40 years later, that the preservation of the only remaining historic apartment block in this section of the Lower Roxbury area, the Goldsmith Block, is of great does not directly address multi-family apartment blocks in this neighborhood, the importance of the Goldsmith Block as a living record of the development of this historically diverse neighborhood cannot be overlooked, as it is a witness to the successive groups of working-class peoples to live and work together in this Lower Roxbury neighborhood.
In 2006, Madison Park Development Corporation, a nonprofit development organization based in Lower Roxbury, undertook a Certified Historic Rehabilitation of the Goldsmith Block. Federal historic tax credits together with State historic tax credits allowed the nonprofit developer to preserve the existing forty units of affordable housing, in nearly the same physical configuration of the 1924-era redevelopment, and add three units of much-needed accessible units to the building. As a result of this successful rehabilitation, today, the Goldsmith Block continues to provide shelter to the working-class population in Lower Roxbury as it has done for over a century. (end) 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 number9. Page 1 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA Major Bibliographical References City of Boston, Boston Redevelopment Authority Historical Map Collection, www.cityofhoston.com City of Boston Inspectional Services Department. Building Permits, Boston, MA. City of Boston Directories, Boston Public Library Microtext Department, Boston, MA Department of Inspectional Services Building Plans. Boston Public Library, Fine Arts Department, Boston, MA. Dudley Station Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Boston, MA. National Census, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, National Archives, Waltham, MA. Roxbury Survey Report, Boston Landmarks Commission, 1982. Roxbury/West Roxbury Town Report, Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1981. Sanborn Map Company, 1887, 1897, 1914, 1938, 1951, 1964, 1988, 1990, 1995. The Sanborn Library, LLC.
Warner, Sam Bass Jr., Streetcar Suburbs, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1978. _Goldsmith Block Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Suffolk, MA County, State Acreage of Property less than one acre UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1.19 328300 4688560 Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting _ See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) oundary Justificatior Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet. 11. Form Prepared By name/title_Taya Dixon, Senior Planner, Epsilon Assocs., with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization_Massachusetts Historical Commission. _ date April 2007 street & number 220 Morrissey Boulevard telephone 617-727-8470 city or town Boston state MA .
zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Northing Northing 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 FPOfor any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Jeanne Pinado, Madison Park Development Corporation street & number_2201 Washington Street telephone 617-541-3900 city or town_Boston state MA _ zip code 02120 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.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. 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 Goldsmith Block Boston [ Roxbury] (Suffolk), MA Verbal Boundary Description The Goldsmith Block boundary extends north along rear edge of the sidewalk on Shawmut Avenue.
The boundary then continues east along the building wall on Winthrop Place in a straight line to the rear property line. The boundary then extends south straight along the property line to Ruggles Street. The property boundary then extends west along the rear edge of the sidewalk on Ruggles Street to the rear edge of the sidewalk on Shawmut Avenue. BALLIA AWMUT S E E RUGGLES 11 7 R E Boundary Justification The boundaries of the Goldsmith Block are consistent with the city lot laid out in 1892. Photographs Photographer: Taya Dixon, Epsilon Associates Date: October 19, 2006 1. View NE of S elevation, Ruggles Street 2.
View SE of W elevation, Shawmut Avenue - - Massachusetts Historical Commission Photo Submission Form Please submit one form for each group of digital images About your digital files: Camera Used (make, model): Olympus, FE-100 Resolution of original image capture (camera setting including resolution and file format): 2272x1704,.jpg format File name(s) (attach additional sheets if necessary) check here ] to refer to attached photo log: MA_Boston(Suffolk)_Goldsmith 1.jpg MA_Boston(Suffolk)_Goldsmith2.jpg About your prints: Printer make and model: _Epson Pro 7600 Paper: brand & type (i.e., Epson Premium Glossy Photo) Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper Ink: Epson UltraChrome Pigmented Inks Signature: (By signing below you agree that the information provided here is true and accurate.) Signature: _Date: 750 6.15 15.11 2434 2465-10 91.97 Information on this Map is Compited and Maintained for Assessing Purposes Only 1616 5785 2456 746 46.76 23.80 2435 2.00 1000 20028 1232 Ra.10 820 150-838 4405 -131.10 1.25 41.40 4705 2855 134.25 17.05 130.45 42.00 2453 City of Boston Assessing Department Ronald W.
Rakow, Commissioner UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Goldsmith Block NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk DATE RECEIVED: 4/25/07 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 5/29/07 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 5/14/07 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 6/08/07 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 07000510 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N OTHER: OTRBBS:1 DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: SAMPLE : COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN REJECT 6-5-07DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : 1n te Vetional Reptebes RECOM./ CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE TELEPHONE - DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.
Goldsmith Block 740-750 Shawmut Arenve; 41 Ruggtes Street Bostan (Suffolk County), massachusetts Photographedby: TayaDixan, Epsilan Associates October 19,2006 Oxigina | Digital Imaqe at Epolon Assoriates, Maynard, mA vew north east of south elevation MA_ Boston (SofbIK Carty)_ Goldsmith 1 ipq EPSO Goldsmith Block Bostan Sofol Coen) 4) Ragqles Strect ,Massachuse+s Photographedlby: Taya Dixon, Epsilon Associates, October 19,2004 Oriqial Digital Image at Epsilon Assaiates, Maynard, mA View scutheust of wester elevation MIA_Bostan(SuffolkCoonty)_GoldsmithZ.ipq PLACIDAN The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission April 10, 2007 Mr. J. Paul Loether National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW 8'' floor Washington, DC 20005 RECEIVED 2280 APR 25 2007 NAT.
REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Dear Mr. Loether: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Goldsmith Block, 41 Ruggles Street, 746-750 Shawmut Avenue, Boston/Roxbury (Suffolk), MA The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the Suave lintenic Preservitiyon Orston. Thre noriesd of phendingesty in the Ce oard consideration 60 to 90 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Sincerely, betoy Fredleg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure cc: Taya Dixon, Epsilon Associates, consultant Roysin B. Younkin, Boston CLG coordinator Thomas Medo, M.Mayon Caily DEvelopment Corp. 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
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