{"nrhp_refnum":"01001048","name":"Gibson House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"137 Beacon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.354680306000034,"lon":-71.07408095222485,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-08-07","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2001-08-07","areas_of_significance":[],"significance_levels":[],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-story brownstone and brick row house at 137 Beacon Street in Boston's Back Bay, built in 1859-60 and designed by architect Edward Clarke Cabot. It now operates as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an exceptionally well-preserved Victorian urban row house, among the first built in the Back Bay. It was occupied by one family for about a century, and its interiors, furnishings and servants' areas survive almost unchanged. Its last family owner set up a trust in the early 1950s to preserve it and open it to the public.","narrative":"Gibson House is a five-story row house at 137 Beacon Street in Boston's Back Bay, built in 1859-60 to designs by architect Edward Clarke Cabot. It stands on a lot 22 feet wide, with a brownstone and red brick front, a mansard roof and an octagonal wooden oriel above the recessed entrance. Cabot adapted the emerging French Empire manner in a restrained, personal way, including Egyptian Revival lotus capitals beside the door. The house was among the first built in the Back Bay and was occupied by the family that built it for roughly a hundred years. Its interior plan is virtually unchanged, and finishes, wallpapers, fixtures and furnishings from the period 1860-1916 survive. The basement kitchen, laundry, drying room, shed and servant call bells document the work of household staff as well as family life. Charles Hammond Gibson, Jr. created a trust in the early 1950s so the house could become a museum, which is why it survives so intact.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Edward Clarke Cabot","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Operates as a house museum open to the public; the front facade was restored in 1996-99.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.538008-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/53/7938/63793853/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/01001048_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001048/fc68d5b072-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001048/fc68d5b072-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Adam Lenhardt Cg-realms at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gibson_House_Marker_29Jan2008.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Adam Lenhardt Cg-realms at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gibson_House_Marker_29Jan2008.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73001948","name":"Back Bay Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/back-bay-historic-district-73001948/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793853","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_House_Museum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5559351"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/gibson-house-01001048/"}