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 # The Salem Diner Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts County and State Acreage of Property _less than one-half acre UTM References See continuation sheet.
(Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1. 19 344180 4706940 Zone Easting Northing 2. Zone Easting Northing 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.) 3. Zone Easting 4. Zone Easting _ See continuation sheet Northing Northing 11. Form Prepared By name/title organization Kathleen Kelly Broomer, consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC Massachusetts Historical Commission date July 1999 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 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 the SHPO or FPO.) name John Decotis - The Salem Diner street & number 70 ½ Loring Avenue telephone978-741-7918 city or town Salem state MA zip code 01970 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 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 1 Page OMB No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS The Salem Diner Salem (Essex Co.), MA 7.
Description The Salem Diner, 70½ Loring Avenue, Salem (MHC #1895) was manufactured in 1941 by Sterling Diners of Merrimac, Massachusetts. Also known as Sterling car #4106, the Salem Diner is a fine example of a Sterling Streamliner, a model distinguished by its aerodynamic styling and curved, "shovel-nosed" end. The Salem Diner is the better preserved of only two examples of the Sterling Streamliner remaining in Massachusetts. The diner is located in South Salem, approximately one and one-half miles south of Salem City Hall. Loring Avenue comprises a segment of State Route 1A, a secondary automobile corridor through city and town centers on Boston's North Shore. The Salem Diner is oriented nose end to the street with a parking area immediately to the south and a newer commercial block to the southwest. Commercial and industrial uses predominate in the immediate vicinity of the diner.
Like all Sterling diners, the Salem Diner has a wood frame and porcelain enamel exterior, here colored pale yellow with contrasting detailing in blue. The diner has a hipped barrel (rounded) roof of metal and a streamlined appearance with a curved, shovel-nosed eastern end. The foundation is finished in concrete and incorporates glass blocks. Entries with original steel-clad doors are located near the center of the façade - behind a glass and steel vestibule, itself a ca. 1960 addition - and at the diner's squared-off western end. Both doors have porthole windows. Most windows in the diner contain wood, single-pane sash with transoms above. A distinctive feature of the diner is the narrow band of rectangular windows located in the curved end.
Exterior details include the "fin" running the length of the roof that serves as a backdrop for the diner's neon signage, which reads THE SALEM DINER. The fin accentuates the streamlined appearance of the diner. A gabled, wood-frame addition (ca. 1950) on the north elevation provides kitchen space at the rear of the diner without compromising the integrity of the main block. The interior has many intact original features. The barrel-vaulted ceiling consists of porcelain enamel panels in pale yellow with wood supports. A similar porcelain enamel and wood treatment survives on the walls, where windows are trimmed in wood, and porcelain enamel panels with contrasting blue detailing appear below the windows.
The counter, which extends from the diner's square (western) end across about two-thirds the length of the interior, has a glass display counter top, small green tiling at the footrest, and replacement pink Formica on the apron. The counter area includes a steel backbar with sunburst motif, a steel refrigerator, a full-length grill and food prep area, thirteen steel stools with vinyl seats, and a staff entrance at the eastern end. The floor is covered with small tiles in shades of green. A row of booths extends the length of the diner. The booths are the most altered interior feature, encompassing wood and vinyl seats and tables sheathed with replacement Formica. Three freestanding tables are located at the curved (eastern) end of the interior, each with booth seating along the curved wall side and chairs on the other.
The manufacturer's tag is located over the counter, and the threshold of the main entry, which has sustained considerable wear, bears the imprint of the letters G and DINER, likely once spelling out STERLING DINER. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are located on the nominated property, it is possible that sites are present. Twenty-six sites are recorded in the general area (within one mile) of the diner. Environmental characteristics for the area have been obscured by urban development including commercial and industrial growth in the vicinity of a major crossroads south (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS The Salem Diner Salem (Essex Co.), MA of the downtown Salem area.
The Salem Diner is, however, located in close proximity to Salem Harbor and fresh water wetlands associated with the Forest River, part of the North Coastal Watershed. In general, however, the potential for locating significant prehistoric resources on the Salem Diner property is low. Installation of the diner and related parking facilities and utilities (sewage, water) have probably impacted any prehistoric resources that may have been present on the relatively small, less than 0.5 acre lot. There is also a low potential for locating historic archaeological resources on the Salem Diner property. While extensive commercial and industrial development of the diner locale may indicate some potential for locating archaeological evidence from these general activities, no specific land use has been identified for the property to date. The diner was erected on a vacant site. (end) 8.
Statement of Significance The Salem Diner is unique in Salem and rare in Massachusetts as a diner with well preserved, aerodynamic styling. The diner reflects the considerable impact of industrial design on American architecture between the Depression and World War II. Its streamlined design is significant both for evoking the early history of diners as mobile buildings, and for its influence on the design of a subsequent generation of diners following World War II. Retaining integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, the Salem Diner meets Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places at the state and local levels. George F. Sullivan and Frederick J. Doherty established the Salem Diner.
Sullivan, the president of the business, was a lawyer who resided on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and Doherty, the treasurer, was a salesman who resided in Malden. By 1945, Doherty had moved to Proctor Avenue in Salem. Sullivan and Doherty owned the Salem Diner until the late 1940s or early 1950s, when James Kallas of Peabody and William Kallas of Salem acquired the business. The Kallas family is also associated with The Bel-Aire diner, a ca. 1953 Mountain View diner located on Newbury Street (U. S. Route 1) in West Peabody. The Kallases operated the Salem Diner until at least 1983, when the city directory of that year shows John Kallas and Theo Tsoutsouris as owners. The diner was installed on a vacant site in a largely commercial and industrial area at a major crossroads south of downtown Salem.
Located in the immediate vicinity in 1942, one year after the Salem Diner was installed, were commercial garages, an auto body shop, a steam appliance manufacturer, a lamp manufacturer, a Socony gasoline station, a laundry, a beauty shop, and residences. Also in 1942, according to the city directory of that year, there were seven other eating establishments calling themselves "diners" in Salem, as well as nine establishments with the term "lunch" in their names. Distinctive for its streamlined form, the Salem Diner reflects the impact of machine-age industrial design on American culture between World War I and World War II. Streamlining emphasized a smooth, rounded, "aerodynamically contoured" form, inspired first and foremost by airplane designs and other transportation vehicles of the 1920s and 1930s, such as dirigibles, ships, and ocean liners.
The streamlined aesthetic began to become apparent in train and (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number : 8/9/10 Page 2/1/1 OMB No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS The Salem Diner Salem (Essex Co.), MA The connection between diner building and the manufacture of trains and automobiles in particular brought the aesthetics of streamlining to diner design. Sterling Diners of Merrimac, Massachusetts, manufacturer of the Salem Diner, was the successor firm to J. B. Judkins Company, which had manufactured custom car bodies. The business started in 1857 as a patent of Roland L. Stickney of New York City, upon which the distinctive streamliner model was based.
[Gutman, 114, 239-240] Streamlining in diners conveyed a sense of movement at the same time that diners were unquestionably stationary, an irony described as the "immobilization of mobility." [Gutman, 113] The Salem Diner was one of the last diners produced by Sterling, which went out of business in 1942. There are approximately ten Sterling diners extant in Massachusetts, and the Salem Diner is one of only two known examples of the Sterling Streamliner in the state. The other streamliner is My Tin Man Diner (808 MacArthur Boulevard, 1940) in the village of Pocasset in Bourne. Though My Tin Man is the more altered of the two streamliners on the interior, the diner displays the distinctive curved, "shovel-nose" design at both ends, rather than at one end as seen in Salem. (end) 9. Major Bibliographical References Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner Then and Now.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. Diner Finder Deluxe: Massachusetts. Watertown, MA: Coffee Cup Publications, 1991. Polk's Salem City Directory (1942, 1945, 1946, 1954, 1963, 1970, 1980, 1983). Boston: R. & L. Polk Co., Publishers, years as noted. Kahn, Joseph P. "Schlock around the clock. Why we'll always love Route 1." The Boston Globe Magazine, June 14, 1998, p. 12ff (references to Kallas family). Wilson, Richard Guy, et al. The Machine Age in America 1918-1941. New York: The Brooklyn Museum and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986. (end) 10. Geographical Data Verbal Boundary Description The boundary of the nominated property is shown on the accompanying detail of the City of Salem 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 : Salem Diner MULTIPLE NAME: Diners of Massachusetts MPS STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Essex DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 8/09/99 9/09/99 REFERENCE NUMBER: 99001118 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 8/24/99 9/23/99 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: OTHER: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN _RBUBCT 9/22/49 OATE ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS : Intacod in üze Metional Registez RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N THE SALEM DINER Salem DINER The Salem Diner 70%½ loring Avenue salem, Essex County, Mass.
VieW NW 1998 Photo: KKBroomer NLg: MHC The Salem Diner 70'%½ loring Avenue salem, Essex county, mass. Interior View E 1998 Ploto: KKBroomer Neg:
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