Central Business District

Everett features a downtown with a number of notable buildings, erected during its period of greatest economic growth. Beginning at the southern end of Everett Square on Broadway, one notes three Georgian Revival municipal buildings, the former Everett Police Station, now used for offices (1903, Spofford and Eastman, 371 Broadway), the Central Fire Station (1908, Loring and Phipps, 384 Broadway), and the U.S. Post Office (1938, Louis A. Simon, 391 Broadway).

The most architecturally significant structure in Everett is the Parlin Memorial Library, designed and then enlarged by Everett architect John Spofford (1894–1895 and 1911–1912, 410 Broadway). A Richardsonian Romanesque building with a dramatic entrance tower adjacent to a curved reading room, the library occupies the most prominent site in the square, a green oasis with walkways and curbing designed by Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot (1895). In 1991, CBT /Childs Bertman Tseckares further enlarged the library in a contextual postmodern style, garnering both local and national awards. The renovation more than doubled the size of the building. Everett has a rare second public library, the Shute Memorial Library (1898–1899, William Lougee, 781 Broadway), located at the opposite end of Broadway past Glendale Square.

Other buildings to note include the Odd Fellows Building (1877, George F. Wallis, 166–172 School Street); the Congregational Church (1852, architect unknown, 460 Broadway); Everett Savings Bank (1930, Thomas M. James, 466 Broadway); Everett High School (1922, Ritchie, Parsons and Taylor, 548 Broadway); and Parlin Junior High School (1915, James E. McLaughlin, 587 Broadway). Designed by Patrick W. Ford in 1896, the Gothic Revival Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (489 Broadway) features a brick tower, which, at 148 feet, is prominent even from a distance.

Just off Broadway on Summer Street stands the Queen Anne–style Everett Vocational School (15 Summer Street), designed by Loring and Phipps in 1892–1893. Now known as the Whitney Lorenti House, the school is currently used for elderly housing.