Explore a selection of the city's released records in chronological order. Compare buildings, surviving details, and the source material behind each date. This automatically assembled study is a starting point for your own exploration.
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A remote or manually navigated catalogue study. The order follows recorded dates, not a pedestrian route; nearby regional places may be far apart. No walking duration is estimated.
Check each place's actual location and visitor rules. A catalogue pin does not grant entry or confirm present access. Use the atlas record and linked sources to plan a visit.
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Chapter 1 · Building
Charles Manning House
Charles Manning House
Recorded year (source inventory): 1850
Listen to this chapterDevice narration · the transcript is below
The Charles Manning House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house, three bays wide, with a front-facing gable roof, clapboard siding, and a granite foundation. Built c. 1850, it has well-preserved Greek Revival details. It has a typical three-bay side-hall plan, with corner pilasters and a main entry surround consisting of long sidelight windows framed by pilasters and topped by an entablature. The windows are topped by shallow pedimented lintels. Charles Manning was a longtime Reading resident and part of its woodworking community, building parlor desks. Reading's Manning Street is named for him. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
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An observation to make
Choose one visible architectural detail. Compare it with another place in this study, then follow a source to check what its date describes.
Catalogue text may include Wikipedia summaries under CC BY-SA 4.0. See each atlas record and its linked article for contributors, context, and additional terms.
Catalogue location only. Confirm current access and the observation point before travelling.
The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
A remote or manually navigated catalogue study. The order follows recorded dates, not a pedestrian route; nearby regional places may be far apart. No walking duration is estimated.
Check each place's actual location and visitor rules. A catalogue pin does not grant entry or confirm present access. Use the atlas record and linked sources to plan a visit.
Automatically assembled catalogue study. Where text is drawn from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 applies to that text. Wikipedia article and contributor links are included with each applicable stop. Passages may be excerpted or abridged and include additional editorial date context. Other sources and original observation prompts retain their own terms.
1. Charles Manning House
Charles Manning House · Recorded year (source inventory): 1850
The Charles Manning House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house, three bays wide, with a front-facing gable roof, clapboard siding, and a granite foundation. Built c. 1850, it has well-preserved Greek Revival details. It has a typical three-bay side-hall plan, with corner pilasters and a main entry surround consisting of long sidelight windows framed by pilasters and topped by an entablature. The windows are topped by shallow pedimented lintels. Charles Manning was a longtime Reading resident and part of its woodworking community, building parlor desks. Reading's Manning Street is named for him. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Observe: Choose one visible architectural detail. Compare it with another place in this study, then follow a source to check what its date describes.
Access: Catalogue location only. Confirm current access and the observation point before travelling.
Record context: The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Edwin Bassett House · Recorded year (source inventory): 1850
The Edwin Bassett House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. It is a well-preserved Greek Revival house, built in 1850 by Edwin Bassett, the first Reading shoemaker to install a McKay stitching machine, a device that revolutionized and led to the industrialization of what was before that a cottage industry. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Observe: Choose one visible architectural detail. Compare it with another place in this study, then follow a source to check what its date describes.
Access: Catalogue location only. Confirm current access and the observation point before travelling.
Record context: The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Benjamin Beard House · Recorded year (source inventory): 1852
The Benjamin Beard House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. Built in the early 1850s, it is a well-preserved example of a distinctive local variant of Greek Revival architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Observe: Choose one visible architectural detail. Compare it with another place in this study, then follow a source to check what its date describes.
Access: Catalogue location only. Confirm current access and the observation point before travelling.
Record context: The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Dewey Place · Recorded year (source inventory): 1853
Dewey Place is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built c. 1853 by John Mansfield, a shoe manufacturer, in what was then a popular upper-class neighborhood of the town. The house as classic Italianate design, with three bays across the front and a cupola (a somewhat common Italianate feature in Reading houses of the period). The front porch appears to be a 20th-century alteration. The house's most prominent owner was Francis O. Dewey, a major dealer in glass lantern globes. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.
Observe: Choose one visible architectural detail. Compare it with another place in this study, then follow a source to check what its date describes.
Access: Catalogue location only. Confirm current access and the observation point before travelling.
Record context: The year is the source inventory’s recorded inception date. Construction start, opening and later alterations may have separate dates in the linked article.