House at 16 Mineral Street
House at 16 Mineral Street is a small, well-preserved Second Empire cottage in Reading, Massachusetts. Built around 1873–74, it was likely moved to its current location soon after during a local building boom that followed the arrival of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1870. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Mineral Street is a residential road west of downtown Reading, running roughly east–west between High and Prospect Streets. The street’s name comes from a failed plan to commercialize a nearby spring. House number 16 sits near the eastern end, on the south side between High and Vine Streets.
The home is a 1 1/2-story wood-frame building with a mansard roof that creates a full second story. The steep roof has gable dormers with octagonal hood moldings. It is three bays wide, with the front door in the leftmost bay. The front entry porch is Italianate in style, with square, chamfered columns. A polygonal bay extends from the right side of the main block, and there are rear extensions.
The house is from the early 1870s, a time when Reading was growing fast. The railroad through the area spurred new housing for workers commuting to Boston, and the builder Timothy Temple was active locally at that time.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:25 (CET).