{"nrhp_refnum":"03000645","name":"Union Oyster House","other_names":["Atwood &amp","Bacon","Atwood"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"41-43 Union Street","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.361340375000054,"lon":-71.05678929342454,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-05-27","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2003-05-27","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-and-a-half-story brick Georgian building at 41-43 Union Street in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, built in the early 1700s (1716-17) as a dwelling and used as a restaurant since 1826. It is part of the Blackstone Block and has two later adjoining additions.","why_significant":"The nomination points to the building's long use as an oyster house and its unusually intact first-floor interior. The soapstone-topped oyster bar and stall-type booths are described as the only known survivors in the United States. The original building is also a rare surviving example of Boston's Georgian architecture.","narrative":"Union Oyster House occupies a five-bay, three-and-a-half-story brick building with a gambrel roof at 41-43 Union Street in Boston. Built in 1716-17 as a dwelling in the Georgian style, it has an unusual angled front that follows the meeting of Marshall and Union Streets. The house later served as a dry goods store, and from 1826 it has operated as an oyster house and restaurant. Its first-floor interior, altered in the mid-nineteenth century, retains a semi-circular oyster bar with a soapstone shucking table and white-painted, stall-style booths, which are described as the only known survivors of their kind in the United States. Early framing, including exposed summer beams and joists, supports the early eighteenth-century date. Two neighboring buildings, one from 1851 and one from 1916, were joined to the restaurant in the late twentieth century, but only the original building is counted as significant. The property is also part of the Blackstone Block.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial: Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Operating as a restaurant (commerce use from 1826 to present); the north and south additions were incorporated into the restaurant in the late twentieth century.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.824267-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/7938/63793851/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/03000645_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000645/9990fd45e4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000645/9990fd45e4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"BPL","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2589477579_CapenHouse_Boston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">BPL</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2589477579_CapenHouse_Boston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793851","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Oyster_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14450004"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/union-oyster-house-03000645/"}