{"nrhp_refnum":"66000364","name":"Elmwood","other_names":["James Russell Lowell House","Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"33 Elmwood Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cambridge","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.375683428500054,"lon":-71.13841583678703,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1962-12-29","areas_of_significance":["Literature","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Mid-Georgian frame house at 33 Elmwood Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built about 1767 by Thomas Oliver, with surviving grounds, two outbuildings and adjacent Lowell Park.","why_significant":"It is a good though altered example of a Mid-Georgian three-story New England frame house. It was the birthplace and lifelong home of poet and editor James Russell Lowell. It was also the home of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Oliver and of Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Vice-President.","narrative":"Elmwood is a large three-story frame and clapboard house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built about 1767 by Thomas Oliver on a farm estate of some 100 acres. It is Mid-Georgian in style, with a hipped roof, balustrade, modillioned cornice and a five-bay facade with Tuscan pilasters at the entrance. Later additions include a porch, a late 19th-century library wing and a terrace. Oliver, the last royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, lived there until a crowd of thousands forced his resignation from the Council in 1774. Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later Vice-President, owned it from 1787 to 1813 and took his oath of office there. Poet, editor and diplomat James Russell Lowell was born at Elmwood in 1819 and lived there for most of his life until 1891. Harvard acquired the house in 1962, and it is now the president's residence. The adjacent Lowell Park, once part of the estate, is included in the boundary.","period_of_significance":"1767; 1819-1891","architect_builder":"Thomas Oliver (builder, c. 1767)","architectural_style":"Mid-Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by Harvard since 1962 and used as the president's residence; not open to visitors. Described as in excellent condition and well maintained.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:58:46.472617-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/51/7937/63793751/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000364_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000364/5e4b380c1d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000364/5e4b380c1d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Midnightdreary","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elmwood-Winter08.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Midnightdreary</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:Elmwood-Winter08.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793751","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmwood_(Cambridge,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5366947"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/elmwood-66000364/"}