{"nrhp_refnum":"00001458","name":"Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"George Carter Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Becket","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.26448750000006,"lon":-73.11793668494514,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-02-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture","Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 150.7-acre historic district on George Carter Road in Becket, Massachusetts, made up of theaters, studios, dancers' cabins, converted farmhouses, barns and support buildings. The buildings date from about 1789 to the 1990s.","why_significant":"The district is the home of the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, founded by Ted Shawn, and its rural setting is described as critical to the creative work of the artists there. The grounds also keep two Federal-era farmhouses and early barns from the original Carter and Chaffee farms. The surviving stone walls and fruit trees show the earlier agricultural use.","narrative":"Jacob's Pillow is a campus of theaters, dance studios, cabins, barns and farmhouses on a hilltop in Becket, Massachusetts, with cleared views west toward the Berkshire Hills and woodland on the other sides. It covers about 150 acres and holds buildings from about 1789 to the 1990s. Two Federal-style farmhouses, the Stephen Carter House and the Carter-Chaffee-Derby House, anchor the grounds, while early 19th-century barns served as models for later construction. Craftsman-style stone and wood buildings from the 1930s include a dining room and dancers' cabins. The Ted Shawn Theatre of 1942 forms one side of a C-shaped group of barn-like buildings around a tea garden. Later studios, cabins, an outdoor stage and an exhibition barn follow the same rural vernacular theme. The district was listed because it houses the dance festival founded by Ted Shawn and keeps the farm landscape, stone walls and orchards that shaped how the artists worked.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Joseph Franz (Ted Shawn Theatre, 1942); Margo Jones (Blake's Barn and Restroom Pavilion, 1992); John Christian (Stephen Carter House remodeling, 1967); Emil Malm (contractor); Owen Burtt (contractor)","architectural_style":"Early Republic/Federal; Late 19th and Early 20th Century/Craftsman","criteria":[],"status_note":"The Stephen Carter House serves as year-round headquarters of the Dance Festival. The other buildings are open during the summer festival season.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.381519-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7941/63794126/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/00001458.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001458/085d55eb2e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001458/085d55eb2e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Camilittle (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Shawn_Theatre.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Camilittle (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Shawn_Theatre.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"03000644","name":"Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/jacobs-pillow-dance-festival-03000644/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794126","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Pillow","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6118219"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/jacobs-pillow-dance-festival-00001458/"}