BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FORM B - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, State. House, Boston rel no 80000624 In Area no. Form no. 141-B-3 1. Town Worcester Address_16 & 18 Claremont Street. Name_ Norcross Brothers Houses Present use -institutional " 2. Photo (3x3" or 3x5") Staple to left side of form Photo number Rolls 5,8 4. Map. Draw sketch of building location in relation to nearest cross streets and other buildings. Indicate north. Present owner The Bible Speaks 40 Kemble Street 3. Description: Lenox, Ma. 01240 Date ca. 1878 Source map of 1878 'Style Architect Queen Anne unknown Exterior wall fabric_brown sandstone Outbuildings (describe) none Other features nearly identical flo0r. plans and elevations, porte-cochere (#16), , decorative slate work (#18) see reverse #9 Altered ' no Date Moved no Date -1267490/46811.0ot size: Assessors' Book 6, p.36 Lots 21 & 22 44,899 sq. ft.
One acre or less Over one acre_x Approximate frontage2601 Approximate distance of building from street 6. Recorded by_ 20' W. & M. Seaman B.R. Pfeiffer Organization_Worc. Heritage. Pres. Soc, Date December 1977 (over) M-7-77 7. Original owner (if known)_ Orlando Norcross (#16); James Norcross (#18) Original use residences Subsequent uses (if any) and datesinstitutional (present) 8. Themes (check as many as applicable) Aboriginal Agricultural Architectural X The Arts Commerce Communication Community development Conservation Education Exploration/ settlement Industry Military Political Recreation Religion Science/ invention Social/ humanitarian Transportation 9. Historical significance (include explanation of themes checked above) Shown on the 1878 Map of Worcester, the James and Orlando Norcross Houses are perhaps Worcester's earliest examples of Queen Anne style architecture.
Identical in plan and massing, the houses stand as near mirror images of each other. Both buildings are constructed of rock-faced sandstone, laid in a broken course of squared blocks, and are two and one-half stories high with a dormered attic above the top storey. Both houses have asymmetrical facades consisting of a central entry flanked by tri-partite windows on one side and a rounded corner bay rising to a dormered turret on the other side. Principal differences between the houses are that the James Norcross House (#18 Claremont) retains decorative slate tiling set in a checkered pattern on its gables and has a porch which terminates in a curved roof supported by a single massive bracket, while the Orlando Norcross House (#16 Clare- mont) has a porch which extends eastward to become a porte-cochere. Both buildings share the same arrangement of gables, dormers and chimneys.
Interiors of the two houses contain a great variety of wood paneling (mostly original to 1878-1880 and made of oak), stained glass, art tiles and decorated window and door surrounds. The interior of the James Norcross House appears to have been the more elaborate from the beginning, with an especially fine oak-paneled stair-hall. The large corner lot on which the houses stand originally contained a stone stable (now demolished) which the Norcrosses shared. Built for the nationally famous Norcross Brothers, builders, 16 and 18 Claremont Street were influential in the introduction of the Queen Anne style to Worcester. Soon after the houses were built, buildings of similar plan and elevation began eroe Jooat aroninota a to be designed by such diverse local architects as Stephen Earle (47 Harvard Street, 1879) and J.B. Woodworth (21 Oread Street, 1880 - Form 141-0). (cont.) 10.
Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's records, early maps, etc.) The Journal of' the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. XXXII, no.2, 20. , 1902, p.1%, 10207065); 1903,; 2.i5:12 (James Norcross) Nutt, C. History of Worcester, vol. IV, pp.633-634 (James A. Norcross); pp.635-636 (Orlando W. Norcross) -*INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Commnity: Worcester Form No: 141-B-3 Property Name: Norcross Brothers Houses Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. 9. The Norcross Brothera (James Atkinson and Orlando W.) were born in Maine in 1831 and - 1839 respectively, the sons of a carpenter/builder, Jesse Springer Norcross.
In 1843 the Norcross family moved to Salem, Massachusetts, near which the brothers founded Norcross Brothers, builders, in 1864 following the return of Orlando Norcross from the Civil War. By 1868 the Norcrosses were settled in Worcester, where in 1869-1870 the firm built old Worcester High School (now demolished) from plans by Henry Hobson Richardson of Boston, prior to his subsequent fame. This contact seems to have resulted in the Nor- cross Brothers receiving most of the construction contracts for Richardson's most famous buildings, of which Trinity Church is the best known. It is thought that the firm and its ingenuity in masonry construction was partially responsible for the development of Richardson's unique Romanesque istyle, and indirectly for the popularity which heavy masonry achieved during the late nineteenth century.
For more detailed information re- garding the Norcross Brothers, see "O.W. Norcross, Richardson's Master Builder" in The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (May 1973) and individual bio- graphies of James and Orlando Norcross in Charles Nutt's History of Worcester and Its People (cited in Bibliography). In addition to the Norcrosses' work for H.H. Richardson, the firm worked with many of the most prominent architects of its day, including McKim, Mead :& White; Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge (successors to H.H. Richardson); Peabody & Stearns; and others.
Among the many well known buildings built by the Norcross Brothers are the New York Public Library, the Rhode Island State House, the remodeling of the White House carried out under Theodore Roosevelt, the Allegheny County Courthouse (Pittsburgh) and (in Worcester) the State Mutual Building (340 Main Street) and the The architect of the Norcross Houses is at present unknown; the firm's contact with many prominent architects, as well as its maintenance of an architectural staff, makes an attribution of the houses' design impossible. Nonetheless, the buildings remain as two of the finest of their style in Worcester. Staple to Inventory form at bottom property Warcester Multiple Resomes Aua (partual Iaventan) State MA (Warcester Working Number 8. 30.
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DUBIE fetum 102-L-3 to state fer curectum; 3/51 BRANCH CHIEF 3/3/81 HOLD 130-CBD -44 for info from stute DUBLE Staff confermu 3/5/80 - agred to action as puated belrro: KEEPER Soldhe 3/5/80 MAR 5 1980 National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2.3.81 Re-submit United States Department of the Interior - Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service by Berkey JUN 1979 141-B-3 AUG 1979 Noreross Bretters Hoises 16r 18 Claremontsi Wercoster MRA, Ma SauthBeast eleatrons by Berkey 30 AUG 1979 141-B-3 Narcross Brothers Hases 18 Claremont St morcester MRA, Ma Southr last elevations Prestige Prints JUN 1979 Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000304