{"nrhp_refnum":"08000021","name":"Smith-Ripley House","other_names":["Ripley House Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"29 E. Church St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Adams","county":"Jefferson County","state":"NY","lat":43.81111986900004,"lon":-76.02063673899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-02-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red brick Italianate house at 29 East Church Street in the village of Adams, Jefferson County, New York, built in 1854 for Philander Smith, with a carriage house/garage on the same three-acre lot.","why_significant":"The house is significant under Criterion A for its association with several prominent village business families (Smith, Huntington, Brown and Ripley) and under Criterion C as a notable, substantially intact example of vernacular Italianate architecture of the mid-nineteenth century in Adams. It retains a high degree of integrity, including its original floor plan and woodwork, and the 1883 addition is compatible with the original design.","narrative":"Built in 1854 for Philander Smith, a prominent businessman and son of the village founder, this red brick Italianate house stands at 29 East Church Street in Adams, New York. It has three bays, a stone foundation, low-pitched metal hipped roofs, wide eaves with decorative brackets, tall narrow windows with wood lintels, and a side-hall entrance with sidelights. A two-story addition of 1883, built by the Brown family, enlarged the kitchen and added a new dining room. Later owners included the Huntington and Ripley families, who were active in local business, shoe retailing, banking and electric power. Inside, the plan, curved staircase, plaster walls, hardwood floors and woodwork remain largely original. The property is described as one of the finest and best preserved nineteenth century homes in the village. It was donated to the Historical Association of South Jefferson in 2003 and opened as the Ripley House Museum in 2004. A frame carriage house/garage on the three-acre lot also contributes.","period_of_significance":"1854-1957","architect_builder":"Unknown (no architect identified; built c. 1854 by Philander Smith)","architectural_style":"Italianate (vernacular, Roman-Tuscan mode)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Now operated as the Ripley House Museum, with genealogy and local history research departments and association offices; the carriage house/garage is being renovated for agricultural and marine displays.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.820391-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/08000021.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000021/84698c7f9e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000021/84698c7f9e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smith-Ripley_House_Jul_10.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smith-Ripley_House_Jul_10.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318276","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith-Ripley_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7544929"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/jefferson-county/smith-ripley-house-08000021/"}