Major Bibliographical References Bibilography (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: # Massachusetts Historical Commission recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # Congregation Agudath Sholom Name of Property Suffolk County, MA County and State 10.
Geographical Data 6.821 square feet Acreage of Property- UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) 111,9 Zone 133 22 4 - 469 5200 Easting Northing 3 Zone Easting - Northing 2 4 - See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (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 Brian Krasner, Office of Comm. Dev., City of Chelsea, members of the Congregation Agudas Sholom, and Anne McCarthy Forbes, NR Edit.
Consultant name/title with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date February 1993 street & number 80 Boylston Street - telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: state MA zip code 02116 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 this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.) name Congregation Agudas Sholom, (President: Sidney Spiegel) street & number 145 Walnut Street P.O.
Box 265 - telephone (617) 884-8668 Chelsea city or town state _ MA _ zip code - 02150 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This informationis 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 reportingburden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including 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.O.
Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. NPS Form10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Section number. 7 Page - 1 Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts 7. DESCRIPTION Designed by Chelsea architect Harry Dustin Joll in 1908-1909, the Walnut Street Synagogue of the Congregation Agudath Sholom (MHC #606), is a massive rectangular brick building of the early twentieth-century Romanesque Revival style. Seven bays long, it is approximately 90 by 65 feet, three stories high, with a full basement.
It has a gabled slate roof, and a triple-entry facade that is dominated by a pair of large square corner stair-towers that project forward to the street. Topping each tower is an eight-faceted copper dome. The rear bay of each side projects slightly, echoing the rectangular quality of the front towers. The building occupies a corner site at the intersection of Walnut and Fourth Streets one block east of one of Chelsea's main thoroughfares, Everett Avenue, in the southwest, downtown section of the city. It stands close to both streets, with its main facade oriented west toward Walnut. A 9-foot-high wrought-iron picket fence with granite posts extends along the south side of the building, and a small outbuilding, a wood-shingled "succah", sits back from Walnut Street on a narrow grassed strip of land on the south part of the lot.
Directly to the rear of the property is the massive elevated concrete ramp of the Tobin/Mystic River Bridge. The neighborhood surrounding the synagogue is largely residential, and filled with three-story brick and wooden apartments and "three-decker" multi-family houses, most dating to ca. 1909-1912. A few nearby lots are vacant. Diagonally to the north, filling an entire block of Fourth Street, is the 1910 brick Williams School. One block to the east is another Romanesque Revival building, St. Stanislaus' Roman Catholic Church.
Three blocks to the south are two large National Register Dis- tricts, the Downtown Chelsea Residential Historic District (NR:1988), and the Bellingham Square Historic District (NR: 1985.) Although some alteration in the form of synthetic siding, window replacement, etc., has taken place in the vicinity, the area in which the synagogue is located is a largely intact representation of the early modern construction that took place immediately after the devastating Chelsea fire of 1908. The main body of the synagogue is constructed of multi-hued red brick in an English/common bond variant in which six courses of red brick stretchers alternate with a single gray-brick header course. The basement story is of Flemish bond construction, with red brick stretchers and gray headers. architect's original plans called for considerable limestone detailing around the windows and doors.
In the finished building, however, instead of limestone, the liberal use of yellow brick accents the facade at the window (continued) NPS Form 10-900-8 (8-86) OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior NationalPark Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number- Page 2 Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts lintels, entry surrounds, in banding atop the foundation, and, most strikingly, in a high veneer arch extending from the first story to the cornice of each of the corner towers. The only symbol on the outside of the building, a star of David under the main facade gable, is executed in yellow brick, as well. Colored brick is used more sparingly on the sides of the building--none appears on the south side, but on the north side facing Fourth Street, yellow brick is used at several locations.
Here the yellow blind arch is repeated on the side of the tower, and yellow brick is used in the window arches of the upper story, two window lintels at the rear corner bay, in horizontal banding above the first story, and in vertical strips that articulate the corners of the rear bay of the building. Other architectural detailing includes a red-brick corbeled cornice at the rooflines, and crenellations at the top of the towers; the southwest tower has a continuous molded cornice atop the crenellations. On the sides of the building, shallow brick buttresses with limestone capstones separate the five main window bays. A granite cornerstone is set into the northwest corner of the basement story of the north tower. It is carved with the Hebrew date of 5669 (the equivalent of 1908-1909) in both Hebraic and Arabic numerals.
The building's fenestration, consistent with the early twentieth-century Romanesque Revival style, features a combination of flat, round, segmental, and slightly pointed arched openings. On the facade, a flight of granite steps leads to three entries with double-leafed paneled doors set into yellow brick pointed-arched surrounds. Above the entries are a corbeled yellow-brick cornice and spandrels of yellow brick with red brick accents. Occupying a full two stories of the upper center facade is a four-stage, pointed-arched window, consisting of a band of five single-light sash at the bottom, topped successively by a row of molded wood panels, another five-part band of windows (the sash here has been removed and replaced with plywood), and, under a yellow brick arch, a wood-mullioned window of small leaded diamond panes of amber colored glass.
In the upper section, a pair of curved mullions extends outward to meet the arch. In each corner tower the three stories of the building are demarcated by a paired sash window at the first and second stories, and a single window at the third. Most of the diamond- and lozenge-paned colored glass that formerly filled the window sash of the facade and corner towers has been destroyed by vandals, and two sashes have been removed for safe-keeping. A few colored-glass sash remain in place in the towers, however. The windows at first-story level on the sides of the building are paired one-over-one-sash (rec- tangular on the north side, but set into segmental-arched openings on the south). The second-story windows along both sides are large rectangular two-over-two-sash, and at the third, round-topped two-over-two-sash.
(continued) NPS Form 10-900-= (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 3 Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number. Page The fenestration of the sides of the two stair towers varies slightly, with segmen- tal-arched openings at second- and third-story level on the south tower, and rectan- gular windows on the north. At ground level of each tower is a modern double-leafed door inserted in an original opening. In both locations a four-part glassed fanlight remains in place above the door, but that on the north is topped by a yellow-brick arch, and on the south, by a keystoned red-brick arch.
Both Harry Joll's final design and the plans for a prior building of 1903 were inspired by the exterior of the Romanesque Revival synagogue of the leading late- nineteenth-century congregation in Boston, Temple Israel on Columbus Avenue. Built in 1886, Temple Israel also sparked other imitations, including the Columbia Street Synagogue in Cambridge of 1901, and the Blue Hill Avenue Shul in Roxbury of 1906. Neither of the latter is still in use as a synagogue. The Walnut Street Synagogue departed from Temple Israel in the use of a traditional Orthodox interior plan for its sanctuary, however, which features the holy Ark at one end, central Bimah, and separate women's gallery.
In fact, the main sanctuary of the Walnut Street Synagogue is one of the most intact synagogue interiors of its time in the Boston area, retaining not only virtually all its original carved oak furnishings, but its wall and ceiling frescoes and light fixtures, as well. Except for the corner stairwells and a narrow entrance hallway or narthex at the streetfront, the sanctuary fills the entire second and third-floor space of the building. Banks of oak pews with brass fittings face the center on three sides of the floor space. In the middle of the floor is a raised square "Bimah," or platform for reading the scrolls, surrounded by a turned balustrade. This particular Bimah is extremely spacious, reflecting the great importance attached to the public reading of the Torah in traditional Orthodox services.
Against a center projection of the east end wall is a high, massive oak Ark, believed to have been built by cabinetmaker Sam Katz, who was responsible for several Arks in the Boston area, including that at the Vilna Shul on Beacon Hill (NR.) This Ark is a particularly dramatic one, combining ornate carving, marquee lighting, and a painted backdrop. Its carved ornament includes columns, animals, and depictions of the Torah and other Hebrew images and symbols. A oehor interh ot Ennisi ie, bove t at ti railing with turned balustrade encloses a small area in front of the Ark.
Other interior finish in the sanctuary includes an oak chair rail just below the level of the windows; above it at the west end, occupying the wall space between three simply-paneled double-leaf oak doors, are four oak wall plaques Above the main floor, at third-story level, is a U-shaped balcony (the seating area for women), faced with a turned balustrade backed by solid wood. Its seating capacity is nearly as great as that of the (continued) NPS Form10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Section number - Page 4 Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts men's level, indicating the increased participation of women in synagogue life in the early part of this century.
Throughout the sanctuary the original brass-and-glass lighting fixtures remain intact, and an elaborate original chandelier hangs over the center area. The most remarkable survival here, however, is the intact array of wall and cn the bcat Sowiah coue. ceiling frescoes, executed by a Mr. Spector, apparently one of several artists in the local Jewish community who made a living by decorating synagogues. The entire barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling is embellished with a painting of the sky, complete with clouds, and a sunrise at the east end. At the west end, over the ladies' balcony, is a painting of the tomb of Rachel, the symbolic mother of the Jewish people. Currently, the ceiling mural is in fair condition, with some cracking evident. Intact frescoes adorn the wall surfaces, as well.
The most elaborate section is the painting over the Ark on the east wall, which depicts a trompe-l'oeil curtained niche supported on Corinthian columns, and filled with symbols from Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, including stars of David and flowered urns. Frescoed decoration also adorns the chair rail, the area around the wall lighting fixtures, and the wall sur- face above and around the upper windows, which are flanked with fanciful paintings of Ionic-like columns. While the main sanctuary is completely intact in all its features, the lower story of the synagogue is somewhat altered. The first-floor space has two chapels, a sabbath sanctuary and a daily sanctuary, both fitted with modern wall paneling and fluores- cent ceiling lights. The Ark furnishings in both spaces, however, are the original hand-carved and gilded wood, and remain in excellent condition.
The basement, which once housed space for a sabbath school, is now used for storage, and contains two lavatories. On the grass strip just south of the synagogue is a rare survival of a religious outbuilding, a small wood-shingled "succah." This is a simple one-room, gable-roofed structure, with a three-bay facade and an open roof. Believed to date to about the time the synagogue was built, its sunken front steps are of the same material as the synagogue's cornerstone. The succah is used annually for the blessing of wine during the holiday of Succoth, when the roof is adorned with leaves and branches. There are extremely few alterations at the Walnut Synagogue. In addition to those noted above, an iron fire escape (date unknown) has been added to the rear southeast corner of the building, and in the 1960's a copper epee atop each tower dome was removed.
(continued) NPS Form 10-900-s (8-06) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Section number - 7, 8 Page _ 5, 1. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are currently recorded on the property it is possible that sites are present. One prehistoric site is recorded in the general area (within one mile). In general, however, the potential for significant archaeological survivals, both prehistoric and historic is low because of extensive urban development in the area and because the present structure, which has a full basement, covers a major portion of the lot. (end) 8.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Walnut Street Synagogue of Congregation Agudath Sholom is one of the major insti- tutional landmarks in the city of Chelsea. Apparently the largest Orthodox synagogue of its era in continuous use in New England, it is a vivid representation of the strength of Chelsea's large and influential Jewish community in the early twentieth century, when Jewish residents numbered nearly a third of the city's population. It is the largest example here of the work of Harry Dustin Joll, one of the three primary architects involved in the rebuilding of Chelsea after the great fire of 1908, and an extremely we11-preserved illustration of the early twentieth-century Romanesque Revival style.
In its three ornate holy Arks and other furnishings, and in the extremely rare survival of a complete set of wall and ceiling frescoes in the main sanctuary, the building also provides an important glimpse of traditional eastern European artistic elements in American architecture. The entire property, including an early wood-frame "Succah," retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and meets Criteria A and C of the National Register, as well as Criteria re aa no as cracoet. consideration A at the local level. The small area that is today the city of Chelsea occupies a peninsula just northwest of Boston. It is bounded by the Mystic and Chelsea Rivers, with Mill Creek and the town of Revere to the north, and Everett to the northwest. It was first settled as Winnisimmet trading post by the English in 1624, and annexed to Boston in 1635.
Separated from Boston by water, however, it remained an isolated, largely uninhabited area for the next century. It was incorporated as part of Chelsea town grant in 1739. The community grew slowly for the remainder of the eighteenth century, with a population of only 472 in 1790. In spite of the building of the 1801 Chelsea Bridge from Charlestown, in 1820 the population was still only 642, but improved accessibi- lity via an 1831-1832 steam ferry and a new roadway and bridge across the Chelsea River to (continued) NPS Form10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Section number 8 Page 2 Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts East Boston in 1834 led to rapid growth over the next two decades.
Chelsea waterfront became a popular summer resort in the 1840s, and in 1857, with the population at 12,000, Chelsea was chartered as a city. Much of the explosive popula- tion increase was the result of the rapid development of industry here during the early years of the industrial revolution, and the ensuing influx of immigrant workers. The former resort neighborhood at the waterfront quickly changed to an industrial area, with rubber, paint and varnish, wallpaper, and other manufactories interspersed with five shipyards. Large portions of the rest of the city were soon filled with densely-packed housing, much of it consisting of multi-family "tenement" dwellings.
With a land area of only 1.86 square miles, (today still the smallest city in area in Massachusetts), over the middle of the nineteenth century Chelsea was transformed from a residential town to a fully developed urban community.By 1908 it was the most densely populated in proportion to its size of any city in the United States. Prior to 1890, European immigrants who came to Chelsea were primarily Irish and Polish Catholics. Between 1889 and 1920, however, the major influx shifted to a great wave of Jews from Russia and eastern Europe. In 1890 Jews in Chelsea numbered 82. By 1910 their number was 11,225, nearly one third of the population, and with over 50% of the city's immigrants and their children of the Jewish faith, the Chelsea Jewish community had become one of the most important and cohesive ehtnic enclaves of the early twentieth century in Massachusetts.
The major physical event to alter Chelsea's downtown in the first half of the twentieth century was the Great Fire of 1908. Beginning on Palm Sunday, April 12, it razed nearly 3,000 structures on 500 acres, destroying nearly half the city. During the ensuing period of rebuilding, ownership and occupancy of properties in the downtown substantially changed. A shift took place from long-time residential owners and an ethnic mix of occupants to a neighborhood of middle- and working-class Jews that was the most densely populated Jewish settlement in the United States. As a group, the city's Jewish residents played a major role in the rebuilding of the downtown, with Jewish investors and architects alike taking part in the reconstruction.
The presence of the magnificent Walnut Street Synagogue, built just after the fire at the height of the era in which Chelsea's Jewish population was at its peak, signifies the strength of their numbers and the power they had accrued over the previous two decades. In the period between the two world wars, the Jewish community in Chelsea remained large enough to support fourteen congregations, along with other associated institutions such as the Chelsea Hebrew Free School, built in (continued) NPS Form10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8 3 Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number Page 1923. The city's population, however, which peaked in 1925 at 47,247, dwindled progressively thereafter, and is today in the 26,000 range.
Much of the decline can be linked to worsening economic conditions in the 1950s and 1960s. Physical deterioration in the downtown area was also accelerated by the 1956 construction of the Tobin Bridge over the Mystic River, which cut a swath through the city just north of its municipal center and adjacent to the rear boundary of the Walnut Street Synagogue. During the post-war period several of the city's Jewish congregations were dissolved and their buildings converted to other purposes. In 1973, another major fire, which devastated 18 blocks in the same area as the 1908 fire, destroyed several more synagogues. Ot them all, the Walnut Street Shul remains not only the only pre-World-War-I synagogue in Chelsea, but the only structure of its era connected with the Jewish faith still in active use for its original purpose in the city.
According to members of the congregation, services have been held every day in the synagogue since its construction in 1908. The Walnut Street Synagogue is also significant for its association with the earliest Jewish congregation in Chelsea. The first congregations here were small groups formed in prívate homes. The earliest was the Ohab Sholom, formed in 1890, which was largely founded by upper-class immigrants of Litvak/Mitnaged heritage. By 1901 they had gathered enough funds to purchase the property at the corner of Walnut and Fourth Streets to build a synagogue.
Shortly after the building process was started, however, another congregation, Beth HaMidrash HaGadol, took over the property and in 1903 announced their own plans for a synagogue, with a front page depiction of the design in the Chelsea Gazette.The two congregations subsequently merged, joining with at least one other group which had been meeting for several years near the Winnisemet River. The new combined congregation, Agudath Sholom (Congregation of Peace), was the largest orthodox group in Chelsea, and had nearly completed the building when the Great Fire of 1908 destroyed it. The synagogue was rebuilt the next year to a new design by Harry Dustin Joll, one of the three primary architects involved in the rebuilding of Chelsea after the Great Fire.
The choice of a non-Jew as architect, along with the grandeur of the building he designed, reflects Agudath Sholom's growing desire for respectability and its emerging position as the major Jewish congregation in Chelsea. Often called the "Queen of Synagogues," the building is reputed to have been the largest orthodox synagogue of its time in New England. Of the few synagogues that were built in Chelsea before the 1908 fire, all were burned down.
The first to be constructed after the fire, for many years the Walnut Street Synagogue was the only one in Chelsea, and of the eventual fourteen synagogues in the city, Agudath Sholom's Walnut Street Shul was (continued) NPS Form 10-900-8 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 8, 4, 1 Section number Page - Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts OMBApprovalNo.1024-0018 Through the early modern period its main competition for status in Chelsea was the Congregation Ahavas Achim Anshe Sfard, which built a synagogue on Elm Street. In contrast to the Lithuanian origin of Agudath Sholom, however, the congregation of the Elm Street Shul was largely composed of Russian Jews, and had been formed five years later.
(The Elm Street synagogue, somewhat smaller than the Walnut Street Shul, was destroyed in the 1973 fire.) Another congregation, Linath Hazedek, erected a smaller synagogue nearby on Chestnut Street in the mid-1920s, but later dissolved as a congregation. Today even the congregation of Agudath Sholom has diminished. Most of its members are elderly, and travel to the downtown synagogue from outside the city or from outlying parts of Chelsea. Services are held only on the first floor, and the great sanctuary space is presently unused. National Register designation for the building will aid greatly in bringing the Walnut Street Synagogue the public recognition it deserves, and should help prepare the way for future fund-raising efforts to preserve its frescoes and other important architectural features. (End) 9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Archives of The Chelsea Evening Record.
The Chelsea Gazette. 18 December, 1909. National Register Applications for the Bellingham Square and Downtown Residential Historic Districts. 1983 and 1987. Joll, Harry D. "Synagogue for Congregation Agudas Huchin of Chelsea." Scale drawing of west elevation. Kaufman, David. Research from records of Jewish Historical Society. 1991. Kopt, Edward. Ihe Intimate City: A Study of Urban Social Order in Chelsea, MA 1906-1915. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1974. (Brandeis Ph.D. dissertation.) Massachusetts Historical Commission. "MHC Reconnaissance Survey Report for Chelsea. " 1980. (continued) NPS Form 10-800# (8-86) OMB Approvel No.1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet 9, 10 2, 1 Section number Page Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea (Suffolk County) Massachusetts Pratt, Walter M.
The Burning of Chelsea. Boston: Sampson Publishing Co., 1908. Research by American Jewish Historical Society, Waltham, Massachusetts. Records of the City of Chelsea Building Department, Assessor's Department, and Department of Community Development. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for the City of Chelsea, 1954. (End) 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description The boundary of the nominated property is shown as Lot 57 on the accompanying detail of the Chelsea Assessor's map, Sheet #38. Boundary Justification The boundary encompasses the entire parcel of land belonging to the Congregation Agudath Sholom. It includes the synagogue, succah, and land historically associated with the property since 1901, when the Congregation Ohab Shalom of Chelsea bought the property.
Congregation Agudath Sholom Chelsea, Massachusetts RESOURCE COUNT TYPE DATE building 1909 RESOURCE Congregation Agudath Sholom (Walnut Street Synagogue) Succah Wrought-iron and granite fence building object ca. 1909 ca.
1909 CONTRIBUTING/ NON-CONTRIBUTING contributing contributing contributing UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Congregation Agudath Shalom NAME : MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 3/08/93 4/08/93 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 3/23/93 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 4/22/93 REFERENCE NUMBER: 93000283 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N OTHER: N PDIL: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N _ACCEPT RETURN REJECT 4/10/97.
N N N Intefee , 10 FRO Natlenal Ragtatio ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N CLASSIFICATION _count _resource type STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION FUNCTION historic __current DESCRIPTION _architectural classification materials _descriptive text SIGNIFICANCE Period Areas of Significance--Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) _summary paragraph _completeness _clarity _applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource _context relationship of integrity to significance _justification of exception _other BIBLIOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHICAL DATA _acreage UTMs _verbal boundary description _boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION _sketch maps _USGS maps photographs _presentation OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone Signed Date F20 IVALNUT SREET SINAGOELE CODNER OF WVALNUT 4FOVRTU SREETS CHELSEA, MA IVEST: WALNUT SIREET NODTU: FODETL STREET #I V 1991 WALNUT SE FRONT +FOURTH ST.
SIDE CHELSEA MA 02150 SANN VALNUT SIDEET STAGCELE CHELSEA, MA VEST ; SOUTU ELEVATIONS #2 OF C WALNMUT ST. FRUNT & NEATERLY SIDE 1991 CHELSEA MA 02150 YALNUT SIDEET SINAGORLE CHELSEA, MA CELINE MUDAL #3 OF 6 MURAL 1991 YALNUT SDEET STNAGCELE CHELSEA,MA MGDHOKariBAcOM #4oF La 1991 MAIN SANCTUARY - SECNCO FLOOR AND BALCONY- P.0. Box 265 -HELSEA MA. 02150 CAUSEA, DERT STUASOELE FRSEFUEEICTENOT $5 oF l SABBATH SANCTUARY 1991 VALNLT SDEET STAGOGLE CHELSEA, MA 1991 WALNUT ST.
SYNAGOONG (AGUDAS SHOLOM) CHESEA, MA APR 1991 -SUCCAH 1991-2dlitioe/ 556S WALNUT STREST SYNA (AGUDAS SHOLOM) CHESTA, MA 1993 AP 1991 -CORNURSTONE -add phot WALNUT STREUT SYNA (AGUDAS SHOLOM) CHELSEA, MA - NORTH GEVATION -add pho 1991 March 1, 1993 ENSE PETIT C * * COMMISIONA PLACIDAN & EIBERTATY OVIETEN * * Conmon Walh 10 kt) RECEIVED MAR E 8 1993 NATIONAL REGISTER Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination form: Congregation Agudath Sholom, 145 Walnut Street, Chelsea (Suffolk County), Massachusetts, 02150. The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer.
Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30-75 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Sincerely, Detay Friedlere Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure cc: Sidney Spiegel, President, Congregation Agudath Sholom Brian Krasner, Economic Development Administrator, City of Chelsea Judith D. McConnell, Office of Community Development, City of Chelsea Anne McCarthy Forbes, Preservation Consultant Bob Collins, Chelsea Public Library Massachusetts Historical Commission, Judith B. McDonough, Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officer 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 Office of the Secretary of State, Michael J.
Connolly, Secretary * SRE BETTPCHACIHAT RECEIVED APR 1 2 1993 NATIONAL REGISTER * March 16, 1993 Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 ATTN: Deloris Beyers Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed you will find a copy of the Chelsea Assessor's Map #38, as you requested. With the enclosed map, the Congregation Agudath Sholom National Register nomination should now be considered complete. Please contact me if you have any additional questions. Thank you. Sincerely, 281 UETE Doug Kelleher National Register Assistant Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure Massachusetts Historical Commission, Judith B. McDonough, Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officer 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 Office of the Secretary of State, Michael J.
Connolly, Secretary
Block