Center Village Historic District

1. Third Meetinghouse (1829) (the Building on the Common)

2. L.D.Batchelder School (1917)

3. Reverend Eliab Stone House (ca. 1761) (between the Batchelder School and the Congregational Church)

4. Reverend Daniel Putnam House (1720), Putnam House barn (1910), and West Village Schoolhouse (c.1844)

5. Edwin Foster House (1838) (between Putnam House & Damon Tavern)

6. David Damon Tavern Damon Tavern(c.1817)

7. Flint Memorial Hall (1875) (Library)

8. Jared B. MacLane House (1818) (beside the police/fire station)

9. Police and Fire Station (1969)

10. (Union Congregational Church (1836) was excluded from the District at the request of the church membership)

Click Here for the 2008 Historic District Commission Design Guidelines

North Reading Historic District Commission History
In 1992, the Board of Selectmen appointed seven residents to research and prepare a Historic District By-Law for the town. The bylaw's purpose is to preserve areas with significant historic structures. The creation of such districts is authorized under Chapter 40C of the Massachusetts General Laws. The appointed committee chose the Town Common and ten properties surrounding the Common to be the first historic district, naming it the Center Village Historic District.

On October 7, 1993, Town Meeting passed the Historic District By-Law thereby establishing the Center Village Historic District. All the properties in the Historic District are now on the State Register of Historic Places. That By-Law further established a NR Historic District Commission, another branch of the Town government, to oversee the Historic District.

The Commissions' 5 member board, amended in April 1996 Town Meeting to 7 members, is appointed by the Board of Selectmen. Its function is to review plans and grant permission for any exterior construction visible from a public way within the District. Exterior work in the Historic District is the only jurisdiction of this town board. Six of the parcels within the Center Village Historic District are owned by the Town of North Reading.

The Historic District Commission has worked closely with town officials, and since 1993, has approved: new windows for the Batchelder School, design and construction of the Veteran's Memorial on the Common, material and design of the Flint Memorial Hall's replacement roof, the location, design, and duration of the Modular Classrooms at the Batchelder School, the design of the new facade and doors of the Fire Station, renovation and new handicapped-accessible main entrance of the Damon Tavern, and the replacement of the curved "eyebrow" window on the front of the Third Meetinghouse on the Common. This board also approved landscape work to improve the health of the trees and lawn on the Common.

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Contact: bjagla_historical_commission@yahoo.com
updated: BJJ February 2009 - vlm 2001