{"nrhp_refnum":"66000766","name":"Lee, Jeremiah, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marblehead","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.50369646100006,"lon":-70.85099063399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-10-09","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story frame mansion at 161 Washington Street in Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts, erected in 1768 for Colonel Jeremiah Lee, a merchant-shipowner. It is now operated as a house museum by the Marblehead Historical Society.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the finest and most elaborate Late Georgian houses in the United States. It is described as the one pre-Revolution New England Georgian house whose interiors equal the best large Georgian houses of New York City and Philadelphia. Its carved woodwork and surviving imported wallpaper are cited, along with Lee's role as a wealthy merchant and patriot leader.","narrative":"Built in 1768 for Colonel Jeremiah Lee, a wealthy Marblehead merchant and shipowner, this three-story frame mansion at 161 Washington Street reportedly cost 10,000 pounds. Its wooden walls are scored and sanded to look like cut stone, with angle quoins, keystoned lintels, a pedimented central pavilion, an Ionic portico and an octagonal cupola. Inside, a wide hall and a seven-foot staircase of Santo Domingo mahogany lead to rooms with carved woodwork, Wren-Baroque style fireplaces and English wallpapers, some original. Lee took part in patriot activities before the Revolution and died in 1775 after exposure during a flight from British officers. The house later passed to Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, served as a bank for over a century after 1804, and went to the Marblehead Historical Society in 1909. The Society restored it and now runs it as a museum. It is considered among the finest Late Georgian houses in the country.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition; operated as a house museum open to visitors by the Marblehead Historical Society.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:59:01.808936-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7936/63793675/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000766_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000766/485e8fbc7f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000766/485e8fbc7f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daderot at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeremiah_Lee_Mansion_-_Marblehead,_MA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot at English Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Jeremiah_Lee_Mansion_-_Marblehead,_MA.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84002402","name":"Marblehead Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/marblehead-historic-district-84002402/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793675","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Lee_Mansion","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6180889"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/lee-jeremiah-house-66000766/"}