{"nrhp_refnum":"66000770","name":"Massachusetts Historical Society Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1154 Boylston St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.34643830250005,"lon":-71.08996065372833,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1965-12-21","areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Georgian Revival headquarters building at 1154 Boylston Street at the Fenway in Boston, built in 1899 and designed by Boston architect Edmund M. Wheelwright for the Massachusetts Historical Society.","why_significant":"The Society, founded in 1791, is the oldest institution of its kind in the United States and has been pre-eminent in collecting, preserving and publishing historical material, especially manuscripts. The form states that the national significance lies more in the age of the Society and the quality and range of its collections than in this particular building.","narrative":"Located at the southeastern corner of Boylston Street and the Fenway in Boston, this three-story building has served since 1899 as the seventh home of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston architect Edmund M. Wheelwright designed it in Georgian Revival style, with a granite ashlar first floor and yellow brick with granite detail above, bowed corner bays, a central porch with balconies, and a cornice with rosettes and dentils. Inside, a marble lobby with a vaulted ceiling and Doric columns leads to a marble stair, and the reading rooms and offices are panelled in dark wood. A rear addition for library stacks was built in 1971. The Society, founded in 1791 through the efforts of the Reverend Jeremy Belknap, is described as the oldest institution of its kind in the country. Its collections include private papers, rare books, maps and museum objects numbering in the millions. The designation emphasizes the Society's age and collections more than the building itself.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Edmund M. Wheelwright","architectural_style":"Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied by the Society, which owns it; open to the public weekdays for research and second-floor exhibits. A rear addition for library stacks was built in 1971.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:59:06.692907-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/7938/63793877/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000770_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000770/f21411aad1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000770/f21411aad1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Biruitorul","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MassHistorichq.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Biruitorul</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MassHistorichq.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84002875","name":"Fenway-Boylston Street District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/fenway-boylston-street-district-84002875/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793877","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q95113736"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/massachusetts-historical-society-building-66000770/"}