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 reguested - 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 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page OMB No.
1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Town Diner Watertown (Middlesex Co.), MA 7. Description Town Diner, 627 Mount Auburn Street, Watertown (1947, MHC #298), is one of the earliest built-on-site diners in Massachusetts. The diner is located in the Coolidge Square commercial area in the east part of Watertown near the Cambridge city line. Mount Auburn Street is part of State Route 16, one of Watertown's primary east-west arteries and an important route through the region. Town Diner occupies a corner lot with no on-site parking. The façade is oriented northeast, fronting the corner, and provides a strong visual anchor in this commercial district. There is a landscaped island between the sidewalk and the façade of the diner.
Town Diner has a steel-frame main block, roughly rectangular in massing, and an irregularly massed, wood-frame wing on the southeast elevation fronting Bigelow Avenue. The two principal elevations of the main block were constructed in 1947, as an L-shaped addition wrapping around the northeast and northwest sides of a Worcester Lunch Car Company diner already on the site. The Worcester diner, of undetermined vintage, was heavily remodeled to serve as the kitchen for the enlarged diner. The profile of the original diner cannot be discerned on the exterior. Brick veneer on the rear wall of the diner was added in 1986. The wood-frame wing on the southeast elevation is believed to date to ca. 1951, according to building permits and Sanborn fire insurance maps. This wing is currently clad with corrugated metal panels.
As a secondary feature that is not visible from most vantage points, the wing does not compromise the integrity of the 1947 main block. The 1947 main block of the diner retains its historic architectural integrity. Building permits indicate the architect of this block was named DeLoria, and a 1982 survey attributes the construction to N. D. C. Construction Company. The diner has a high concrete foundation with glass block basement windows, a rounded hipped metal roof, and porcelain enamel exterior panels in a color scheme of cream and teal. Approximately ten bays wide and five to six bays deep, Town Diner has rounded front corners and two finished elevations: on the northeast, fronting the intersection of Mount Auburn Street and Bigelow Avenue, and on the northwest, fronting Mount Auburn Street. Each elevation has a steel and glass entry placed off center.
The façade entry has paired doors, a double staircase in brick, and wrought iron railings. The side entry has a single door and is situated at street level. Windows contain 1/1 steel sash with transoms except at the rounded corners, where window openings are filled with glass block. The diner exterior also is distinguished for its rooftop signage, though the neon tubes were recently removed. Centered over the façade is the TOWN DINER sign, which includes a steel-rimmed clock between the two words. Flanking the diner name are smaller illuminated signs that read Homemade Pastry and Fresh Sea Foods. On the Mount Auburn Street elevation is a projecting sign that is vertical in its orientation and reads TOWN DINER. On the interior, Town Diner has an L-shaped footprint and displays a fusion of diner and restaurant details.
Despite some cosmetic changes to certain interior finishes, the diner's historic spaces are maintained. The most intact finishes of the interior are found in the counter and back bar area. The counter extends the length of the diner's northeast arm, parallel to the northeast (front) wall. Staff entrances are located at the center of the counter - directly across from the diner's main entrance and in front of the kitchen doors - as well as at the right (north) end. Despite the replacement Formica counter top, the counter retains its tiled apron in a light blue and black color scheme. The counter apron also includes glass block framing the center staff entrance. The back bar features steel panels bearing a sunburst motif. There are sixteen steel counter stools with vinyl covers.
Booth seating is located along the northeast (front), northwest (Mount (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 Town Diner Watertown (Middlesex Co.), MA Auburn Street side), and southeast (Bigelow Avenue) walls; the booths are finished in Formica and upholstered in replacement vinyl. Walls display wood paneling. The floor is tiled. Interior alterations include reproduction colonial hanging lamps and a recessed lighting and ventilation system (ca. 1970s) that is suspended from the barrel ceiling. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are located on the nominated property, it is possible that sites are present.
Thirteen sites are recorded in the general area (within one mile) of the diner. In general, however, environmental characteristics of the property, especially its distance of over 1000 feet from the nearest wetlands, are not locationally favorable for most types of prehistoric sites. Most prehistoric sites in the region are located in close proximity to streams, ponds and wetlands within the Charles River drainage. Many of these sites are located along the shoreline of the main Charles River basin to the south and the shores of Fresh Pond located north of the diner. Given the above information, the small size of the nominated parcel (12,700 square feet), and construction impacts from the diner, which has a basement, a low potential exists for locating prehistoric resources on the property.
A low potential also exists for locating historic archaeological resources on the Town Diner property. No information is present indicating specific historic period landuse on the property prior to installation of the Worcester Lunch Car Company Diner on the property in the mid-1930's and incorporation of that diner into the present diner in 1947. (end) 8. Statement of Significance Town Diner is an early and important example of the built-on-site diner in Massachusetts. Architecturally, the diner combines the barrel roof and porcelain enamel cladding of the traditional Worcester lunch car diner with the curved corners, center entry, L-shaped seating area, and glass block seen in later diner types introduced in the 1940s.
Town Diner also is important historically for its long association with the Contos family of Watertown, who operated the business beginning in 1945 and transformed the diner in 1947 to its present appearance. The existing diner is one of the state's best illustrations of a diner operator's desire to update and upgrade his facilities. Retaining integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, Town Diner meets Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places at the local and state levels. The history of the Town Diner begins in the mid-1930s, when Joseph E. Carroll was the proprietor of the small Worcester lunch car at this location. It is not clear whether Carroll purchased and installed a new Worcester diner on the site, a secondhand (in "as is" condition) diner, or a reconditioned diner.
According to Watertown directories, Carroll did not live in the town at the time. He operated the Town Diner until about 1942, when Arthur C. Derosiers was the proprietor. Derosiers lived in Revere, north of Boston. Louis Contos took over the Town Diner in 1945. Contos emigrated from Greece in 1912 and, according to town directories, lived in Watertown from the mid-1930s onward. In the early 1940s, before owning the diner, Contos was employed in South Boston; his occupation at that time has not been determined. Peter Contos, another Watertown resident and likely a relative, had a restaurant in Boston about the same time. In 1947, Louis Contos and his son, George, (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 Page 2/1 OMB No.
1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Town Diner Watertown (Middlesex Co.), MA substantially enlarged the main block of the diner to its present appearance, retaining the Worcester lunch car already on the site for use as the kitchen in the rear. The remodeled Town Diner is a combination "Worcester Lunch Car/Paramount Diner." [Gutman, p. 143] The design fuses the traditional Massachusetts diner form - the barrel-roofed diner with closed barrel (rounded hipped) roof-and contemporary diner forms of the 1940s, with their sleek profiles and exterior finishes, and their greater use of stainless steel on the interior. Watertown building permits attribute the design of the Town Diner to an individual named DeLoria. There is no listing for a DeLoria in the Watertown directories. The directories for the neighboring city of Cambridge, however, show a John A.
DeLoria, who was the city's building inspector in 1946 and directed the city's remodeling and reconstruction department in 1954. This DeLoria may have been involved in the design of the Town Diner. By the time the Contos family acquired the Town Diner, the Coolidge Square area was an important neighborhood shopping district in the east part of Watertown. A number of retail and service establishments operated on Mount Auburn Street and adjacent side streets, among them markets, banks, variety shops, a pharmacy, shoe repair shops, a tailor, a laundry, a barber shop, and a beauty salon. There were at least two service stations in the immediate vicinity, as well as a café, a bakery, and a "bowladrome." The Town Diner occupies an important site in this commercial area and provides a strong visual anchor in this neighborhood shopping district.
The Contos family ran the Town Diner until the early 1980s, at which point the current operator acquired the diner. (end) 9. Major Bibliographical References Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner Then and Now. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993. --- and Peter Ames Richards. "A guide to dining out ... way out." The New York Times. Sunday, September 15, 1974, Travel and Resorts, Section 10, p.1. Diner Finder Deluxe: Massachusetts. Watertown, MA: Coffee Cup Publications, 1991. MHC Inventory Form for Town Diner, Watertown (recorded by Architectural Preservation Associates), September 1982. Watertown Directory. North Hampton, NH: Crosby Publishing Co., Inc. (1930, 1935, 1939, 1942). Manning's Cambridge Directory. Boston: H. A. Manning Co. (1946, 1954). Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: 1923, 1928 (corrected to September 1949), 1971.
Watertown building permits for Town Diner, 627 Mount Auburn Street. (end) Town Diner Name of Property 10. Geographical Data Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts County and State Acreage of Property 12,700 square feet UTM References See continuation sheet. (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1. 19 322270 Zone 4693010 Easting Northing 2. Zone Easting Northing 3. Zone Easting "Zone Easting _ See continuation sheet Northing 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.) 11.
Form Prepared By name/title organization Kathleen Kelly Broomer, consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC Massachusetts Historical Commission street & number 220 Morrissey Boulevard dateJune, 1999 telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: _ zip code 02125 Continuation Sheets 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 Athas Arvanitis street & number 627 Mt.
Auburn Street telephone617-924-9789 city or town Watertown state MA _ zip code 02472 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 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 10 Page 1 OMB No. 1024-0018 The Diners of Massachusetts MPS Town Diner Watertown (Middlesex Co.), MA 10. Geographical Data Verbal Boundary Description The boundary of the nominated property is shown on the accompanying detail of the town of Watertown 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 : Town Diner MULTIPLE NAME : Diners of Massachusetts STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 8/09/99 9/09/99 REFERENCE NUMBER: 99001127 MPS Middlesex DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 8/24/99 9/23/99 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: V ACCEPT RETURN IREUBCT 9/22/99 ABSTRACT/ SUMMARY COMMENTS: RECOM./ CRITERIA REVIEWER TELEPHONE DOCUMENTATION DISCIPLINE DATE attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N INERA Town Diner 627 mount Awourn Street watertown, Widdlesex Klpunty, mass.
#1998 view sw Photo: KKBroomer Neg: ToonDiker 627 mount Aubum Street watertown, middlesex County, Mass. Iuterior view sE 1998 Pwoto: KkBroomer ELTON AVENUE SHORT 105 6725 BLOCK - MOUNT 40 BIGELOW 2421 AVENUE AUBURN COOLIDGE SOul STREET 649 - 645 PadulA 40 43895 ¡710- mancuso 3018 N. 1193 WAY X BL OCK+E PAACTEA -L11,748 30 + >2005 WELLS 16,257 A VENUE 29 SECTION 12 BLOCKS 30-40 SECTION 12 BLOCKS 30 + 40 Rops- Passageway E1K 2440 ARLINGTON St atatogui 10747 13ALS CROVE ST. Revised. Tc January 1, 1985 TOWN OF WATERTOWN, MASS. ASSESSORS MAP TOWN DINER, 62.7 MOUNT AUBURN STREET, WATERTOWN MAP 1240 SECTION4 THE DINERS OF MASSACHUSETTS MPS
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