American Optical Company Historic District

The Building at 52 Main Street is a historic triple decker residence in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Built early in the 20th century, it is a good example of period worker housing with French Canadian immigrant design features. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The house at 59–63 Crystal Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts is a well-preserved multiunit residential structure built to provide worker housing for the American Optical Company around the turn of the 20th century. It is a 2.5-story wood-frame house, in a late Victorian style with both Italianate and Colonial Revival elements. Its side hall, gable front appearance is typical of many late 19th century houses in Southbridge.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The house at 64 Main Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts is a vernacular Queen Anne Victorian house built around the turn of the 20th century. It was built for George Wells, president of the American Optical Company, as a property to rent to factory workers. Its styling includes a wraparound porch, and diamond-pattern shingles in the gable end, as well as patternwork in the slate roof. However, it also has some Colonial Revival details, including the window treatments and the front door surround.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The House at 3 Dean Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts is a rare well-preserved example of a worker housing cottage built by the locally important American Optical Company. It is a small 1+1⁄2-story house, three bays wide, presenting its side to the street. At the time of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, it still had the original siding from its original construction, about 100 years earlier, which included cut shingles in the gable, and bracketed eaves. These details have since been lost or obscured by the application of modern siding (see photo).

The Maple Street Historic District consists of a cluster of ten similar worker cottages on Maple Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts. They were built as part of an effort by the locally important American Optical Company to improve the quality of its worker housing in the 1910s. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The Alpha M. Cheney House is a historic house at 61 Chestnut Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts. It was built in 1881 for Alpha M. Cheney, then one of the largest shareholders in American Optical Company, one of Southbridge's largest employers. Designed by Barker & Nourse of Worcester, the house is one of Southbridge's best surviving examples of high Victorian Gothic styling. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The house at 70–72 Main Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts was built around the turn of the 20th century for George Wells, president of the American Optical Company, to provide housing for his workers. A gambrel-roofed three family house its gable end faces the street, and is adorned with porches, of which the one on the third floor has since been enclosed. The roof line is pierced by long dormers, giving the third floor unit more space than it might otherwise have. Ownership of the house was eventually transferred to the company, which continued to use the property for worker housing into the 1940s.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The House at 34 Benefit Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts is a modest factory worker's cottage built by the American Optical Company during a period of its expansion in the 1870s. After opening its new Main Plant in The Flats section of Southbridge, workers began to migrate there from the Globe Village neighborhood, increasing demand for housing in that area. It is a narrow 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, which has some architectural style despite its simplicity. The styling is basically Italianate in influence, with wide eaves, and a porch with decorative posts, balustrade, and brackets.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The House at 18 Walnut Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts is one of two modest yet remarkably high Shingle Style houses on Walnut Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts. It was built c. 1898 by George Wells, president of the locally important American Optical Company, apparently to provide worker housing for company employees. Of the two houses Wells had built, this one is the best preserved. It has a slate gambrel roof with projecting sections.The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Its original shingle siding has been replaced, as has the diamond-lighted bay window projecting from the front gable end.

The Sacred Heart Church Historic District encompasses the complex of buildings associated with the Sacred Heart Church on Charlton Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts. The complex, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, is the second Roman Catholic parish (after Notre Dame) built to serve Southbridge's growing Franco-American population. The four buildings in the complex were built between 1909 and 1926 in the Colonial Revival style.The parish was formally established in 1908, and construction on its buildings began in 1909. The first two to be built were the rectory and convent. The rectory, at 40 Charlton Street, is a 2+1⁄2-story brick structure with a hipped roof which is pierced by a few gable dormers. Its front facade features a central rounded bay, and both side facades have projecting rectangular bays. The convent is of similar styling, except its front facade features two side rounded bays and a central porch. Its rear facade also features an entry porch.The school, which opened in 1910, was at first run by the Sisters of Nicolette, who also ran the Notre Dame parish school. The building is a large two-story brick block, with projecting sections at the center of each side that rise up to the roof line on three sides, and above the main roof line on the front, which features three round Roman arched doorways. The main roof his hipped, as are the roof lines of the projecting sections.The church was not completed until 1926. Unlike the other buildings, it has a marked Gothic character, with Gothic-style arched windows, buttresses, and Gothic ornamental detailing.

St. George's Greek Orthodox Church is a historic Greek Orthodox Church building at 55 North Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Built in 1932, it is the oldest Orthodox church in the city, and is a locally rare example of Byzantine and Greek architecture. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The House at 91 Coombs Street in Southbridge, Massachusetts was, at the time of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, a well-preserved example of a three-decker built early in the 20th century. Of similar period three-deckers on Coombs Street, it was the only one that had not been significantly altered, with original Queen Anne trim elements, including turned balustrade and porch posts, and decorative stained glass windows. Since then, it has apparently been demolished; a modern duplex now stands on the property.