{"nrhp_refnum":"66000051","name":"Adams National Historic Site","other_names":["Old House"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"135 Adams St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.26325340000005,"lon":-71.01114543699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Literature","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic estate district of 8.45 acres at 135 Adams Street, Quincy, Massachusetts, centered on the 1731 Old House and including a library, carriage house, greenhouse, woodshed, formal garden, orchard, duck pond and the adjoining Beale estate.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the site is significant as the home of four generations of the Adams family from 1788 to 1927, who played a leading role in the development of the American nation. The Old House and its furnishings remain as the family left them, showing the changing tastes of its occupants. The grounds and the neighboring Beale property preserve the environment familiar to the Adamses.","narrative":"Adams National Historic Site occupies 8.45 acres in Quincy, Massachusetts, and preserves the long-term home of four generations of the Adams family. At its center is the Old House, begun in 1731 as a Georgian country villa and enlarged by John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Charles Francis Adams. Other surviving structures include a stone library built in 1870 that holds about 14,000 volumes, a Victorian carriage house completed in 1873, a greenhouse, and a woodshed. An eighteenth-century formal garden, an orchard and a duck pond complete the grounds. The adjoining Beale estate, with a Federal-style house built in 1792, was added in 1972. The site matters because the Adamses lived here from 1788 to 1927 while serving as presidents, diplomats and writers. The house and its furnishings remain as the family left them, showing the changing tastes of each generation rather than a single period.","period_of_significance":"1788-1927","architect_builder":"Cummings and Sears (Carriage House); Edward Cabot (Library design assistance); Captain Benjamin Beale (Beale House); John Adams (Woodshed)","architectural_style":"Georgian (Old House); Victorian eclectic (Library, Carriage House); Federal (Beale House)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the National Park Service; the Library is still used for research and the Carriage House contains park offices. The Old House remains as the Adams family left it in 1927.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.638814-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/7963/63796366/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000051.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000051/db509ad65a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000051/db509ad65a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adams_Family_House_Peacefield.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</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:Adams_Family_House_Peacefield.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796366","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_National_Historical_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q351941"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/adams-national-historic-site-66000051/"}