{"nrhp_refnum":"12000818","name":"Pinkham, Lydia, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"285 Western Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lynn","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.475721786000065,"lon":-70.95072040330633,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-09-25","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2015-08-25","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story wood-frame Second Empire cottage built ca. 1872 at 285 Western Avenue in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, with a ca. 1890 storage shed behind it.","why_significant":"The house is tied to the early days of the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company, whose vegetable compound was reportedly made there. It was also the home of Lydia Pinkham from 1877 until her death in 1883, during her most productive years as a patent-medicine entrepreneur. It is also a representative and uncommon example of a Second Empire cottage in Lynn.","narrative":"Built around 1872, this modest Second Empire cottage at 285 Western Avenue in Lynn, Massachusetts, is best known as the home of patent medicine entrepreneur Lydia Estes Pinkham. She lived there from about 1877 until her death in 1883. During those years she and her sons turned a homemade herbal remedy into a bottled product carrying her name and portrait, and the vegetable compound was reportedly made in the basement kitchen. The family company later moved to a nearby factory and grew into a national business. The wood-frame house has a mansard roof, dormer windows, projecting bay windows, paired cornice brackets and a side-hall plan. Alterations in the 1920s, made by a physician who owned the house, included a new porch, a second story on the rear ell and an exterior chimney. A ca. 1890 shed survives in the rear. Lynn's surveys found only two Second Empire cottages among 41 Second Empire houses, which adds to the house's architectural interest.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1872-1962","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Second Empire","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Currently used as a single dwelling; refurbished, re-roofed and repainted in 2000 after a period of neglect.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.52681-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7947/63794782/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/12000818.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000818/d77f7b5107-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000818/d77f7b5107-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LynnMA_LydiaPinkhamHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LynnMA_LydiaPinkhamHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794782","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Pinkham_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16894402"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/pinkham-lydia-house-12000818/"}