Architecture
Architecture
AHS’s staff architectural historians have developed, over decades of experience, the expertise to evaluate and document every type of historic architecture. Houses of every age and style, from the 17th century to mid-20th-century modern, are in our repertoire. We research, inventory, and assess the National Register eligibility of individual structures, districts large and small, and historic buildings across entire towns. Barns, mills, factories, commercial buildings, libraries, schools, places of worship, municipal buildings—all building types are in our project portofolio. We research, document to the appropriate standards for each project, advise on historically sympathetic rehabilitation, assist in preservation planning, and coordinate historic preservation tax credits. Our project portfolio includes thousands of buildings and structures.
Featured Project
Mid-Century Modern Architecture
Lexington, Massachusetts, is home to an unusually large number of Mid-Century Modern houses because of its proximity to two of the country’s leading schools of architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. AHS prepared the historical framework for the town’s Mid-Century Modern architecture and wrote National Register of Historic Places nominations for two districts: Peacock Farm and Six Moon Hill.
Other Project Examples
Downtown Chicopee
AHS historians documented downtown Chicopee and evaluated its eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Located on the south side of the Chicopee River, the downtown area consists of a former planned industrial community with factory complexes along a canal, worker housing, and a variety of municipal and commercial buildings. It was recommended as NRHP-eligible for its association with the area’s varied industries and growth as an urban center, as Chicopee evolved from an agrarian settlement of Springfield into an industrial city. The factory buildings in the district represent major industrial complexes and are good examples of mid-19th to early 20th-century industrial architecture.
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Columbia Green Historic District
A group of 42 buildings along the remnants of the town common, known as the Columbia Green, was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. Four houses date to the 18th century, including a house built for an early Congregational minister, Eleazor Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College. The majority of houses are from the Federal or Greek Revival periods, along with some Victorian-period buildings. The nomination included the town’s World War I memorial and an 18th-century burial ground known as the “Old Yard.” The cemetery has an outstanding collection of grave markers, which were a major form of artistic expression at that time.
Danielson Main Street Historic District
AHS staff prepared the National Register nomination for the Main Street Historic District in the Danielson section of Killingly, Connecticut. Danielson began as a textile mill village, but after the arrival of the railroad in the late 1830s, it emerged as a commercial and social center for the surrounding countryside. The district includes a wide variety of 19th- and early 20th-century buildings: brick commercial blocks, churches, fire station, town hall, post office, and library.
For more information on AHS’s experience and capabilities, visit our expertise page.