Spring Hill Historic District (Somerville, Massachusetts)

Spring Hill Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
View of Atherton Street, including Somerville's Round House
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Location	Somerville, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°23′7″N 71°6′29″W / 42.38528°N 71.10806°W / 42.38528; -71.10806Coordinates: 42°23′7″N 71°6′29″W / 42.38528°N 71.10806°W / 42.38528; -71.10806
Architect	Loring,George A.
Architectural style	Mid 19th Century Revival, Queen Anne, Shingle Style
MPS	Somerville MPS
NRHP Reference #	89001222
Added to NRHP	September 18, 1989

The Spring Hill Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Summer, Central, Atherton, and Spring Streets in the Spring Hill area of Somerville, Massachusetts. The district encompasses the city's best-preserved residential subdivision from the mid-19th century, with later infill construction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Most development took place in the neighborhood between the 1840s and early 1900s. Spring Hill has a fine selection of Greek Revival houses and Victorians including Italianates, Gothic Revivivals and Queen Annes. Large houses were built in the neighborhood as well as smaller workers' houses and attached houses. In the early 1900s triple-deckers filled in the remaining land.

Spring Hill is a glacial drumlin with an elongated summit roughly north of Summer Street, between Lowell and Cedar Streets in central Somerville. Its name derives from a spring that was useful for farmers who originally settled the area in the 17th century. The construction of the Boston and Lowell Railroad in the 1840s, with a station at the base of the hill, spurred residential construction in the area for businessmen working in Charlestown and Boston. The tract of land making up this district was purchased by George Brastow, a native of Wrentham who later became Somerville's first mayor. Recognizing the potential for development, Brastow hired Alexander Wadsworth to lay out housing lots.