{"nrhp_refnum":"07000946","name":"Essex Town Hall and TOHP Burnham Library","other_names":["Burnham, Thomas Oliver Hazard Perry, Library","Goodhue Memorial Park","Shepard Memorial"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"30 Martin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Essex","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.63130149250006,"lon":-70.78317836066778,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-09-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Shingle Style municipal building at 30 Martin Street in Essex, Massachusetts, built in 1893-94 to designs by architect Frank Weston. It combines town hall and library on a 1.5 acre hilltop parcel with a baseball ground and memorial park.","why_significant":"The building was funded by a $40,000 bequest from Thomas O.H.P. Burnham and houses the town's government and library. It is little altered and keeps its original auditorium features. The surrounding grounds add a front drive, the Town Hall Baseball Grounds and war memorials, with a stated period of significance of 1893-1957.","narrative":"Essex Town Hall and T.O.H.P. Burnham Library is a large wooden Shingle Style building on a hilltop at 30 Martin Street in Essex, Massachusetts. Built in 1893-94, it has a fieldstone ground floor, flared shingled upper stories, conical stair towers, a steep hipped roof and a square clock tower topped by a Santa Maria weathervane. Architect Frank Weston won a blind competition against two established firms. Funding came from a $40,000 bequest from Thomas O.H.P. Burnham, which Town Meeting voted to accept in 1892. Townspeople contributed stones to the ground floor. Inside, the second-floor auditorium keeps its stage, balcony and ceiling features, though offices have been inserted in its center. The 1.5 acre site includes a semicircular front drive, the ca. 1903 baseball grounds and a memorial park with a 1905 Soldiers' Monument and other war memorials. The property remains town-owned, in good condition, and largely unchanged on the exterior since its original construction.","period_of_significance":"1893-1957","architect_builder":"Architect Frank Weston; builders Barker & Dodge of Malden (contractors); Frank E. Burnham (masonry subcontractor)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Shingle Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the Town of Essex; generally in good condition and still used for government and library functions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.622156-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/58/7950/63795058/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/07000946.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000946/7dd0177805-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000946/7dd0177805-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EssexMA_TownHallAndLibrary.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</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:EssexMA_TownHallAndLibrary.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795058","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_Town_Hall_and_TOHP_Burnham_Library","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5399814"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/essex-town-hall-and-tohp-burnham-library-07000946/"}