{"nrhp_refnum":"00001268","name":"Lyford, Benjamin and Hilarita, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"376 Greenwood Beach Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tiburon","county":"Marin County","state":"CA","lat":37.89421065200003,"lon":-122.49725006199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-11-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood frame Second Empire house with a three-story tower at 376 Greenwood Beach Road, Tiburon, Marin County, California. It was built in 1876 on Strawberry Point and moved across Richardson Bay in 1957.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is locally significant under Criterion C as an excellent example of second-half nineteenth-century residential design. It has a flared mansard roof, a centered tower, and Italianate and Gothic details, and appears in several regional architectural guides. Its architectural values were not lost in the move, so it meets the moved-property consideration.","narrative":"Built in 1876 for Dr. Benjamin Lyford and his wife Hilarita, this two-story wood frame house originally stood on Strawberry Point as part of the Eagle Dairy, a farm promoted as a model of sanitary practice. Its flared mansard roof has patterned shingles and carved dormers, and a three-story tower is centered on the front. Italianate bracketed windows and Gothic-style pointed tower dormers add to the mix. No designer is documented, though local stories credit Gustav Behrnd with the tower, and the design may derive from a pattern book. Threatened with demolition in 1957, the house was barged across Richardson Bay to its present site in Tiburon. A rear addition, enlarged windows and rebuilt chimneys followed. It was listed for its architecture as a picturesque local example of late nineteenth-century design, and it is included in several regional architectural guides. Today it serves as a museum and meeting center on an Audubon property.","period_of_significance":"1876","architect_builder":"Unknown (the nomination says no information survives on who designed it; local stories name Gustav Albert Behrnd as designer of the tower)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Used today as a house museum and lecture and meeting center by the Audubon Society.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.089411-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/00001268.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001268/9682279ae3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001268/9682279ae3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Frank Schulenburg","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lyford_House,_Tiburon.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Frank Schulenburg</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lyford_House,_Tiburon.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859686","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_and_Hilarita_Lyford_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4889445"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/marin-county/lyford-benjamin-and-hilarita-house-00001268/"}