Community Corner
Downtown Worcester Building Added To National Historic Register
The 1923 Printers Building along Portland Street is the latest local landmark added to the National Register of Historic Places.
WORCESTER, MA — A 100-year-old Portland Street building in downtown Worcester is the newest local landmark to join the National Register of Historic Places.
The Printers Building, 44-50 Portland St., was added to the register in late August, according to a recent weekly listing report. Being added to the list is an honor, and also potentially allows the building owner to qualify for historic preservation tax credits.
The Worcester printing houses Commonwealth Press, Davis Press (now Davis Publications) and J. S. Wesby & Sons built the Printers Building in 1923 as the industry was growing locally, according to Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Commonwealth Press filed for bankruptcy in the late 1980s.
Today, the building is still home to Davis Publications, a major printer of art textbooks for schools and universities. More recently, ArtsWorcester moved into the building, and opened gallery space there. The NPR affiliate WICN radio studios are also located inside the building.
The last Worcester landmark to make it onto the National Register of Historic Places was the Dale and Ethan Allen Streets Historic District, added last December. The district includes a number of historic apartment buildings that were built on what used to be an estate owned by firearms inventor Ethan Allen.
