{"nrhp_refnum":"66000791","name":"Whipple, John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"53 S. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ipswich","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.67663394250005,"lon":-70.83609913347604,"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 17th-century wooden house museum at 53 South Main Street, Ipswich, Massachusetts, built in three stages: an original section about 1640 (conjecturally as early as 1638), an addition in 1670, and a rear lean-to after 1700.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is one of the earliest New England houses and a remarkable example of a 17th-century dwelling developed over many years. Its three distinct units show how workmanship and architectural detail changed as the Whipple descendants grew away from their English origins. It is called an exceptional record of New England settlement in the early Colonial period.","narrative":"This 17th-century house at 53 South Main Street in Ipswich, Massachusetts, grew in three stages over several generations of the Whipple family. The first section, probably built around 1640, was a one-room, two-story structure with a large end chimney. Captain John Whipple Jr. more than doubled its size in 1670 with an eastern addition featuring carved overhang beams, triple-light windows and crossed summer beams. A later John Whipple added a rear lean-to after 1700, giving the house its present form. The first John Whipple was a settler of Agawam, later Ipswich, and served as deputy to the General Court, selectman, deacon and ruling elder. The Ipswich Historical Society bought the house in the 1890s and restored it, and in 1927 the house was moved about one block to its current site near the South Green. It is now a museum with a period herb garden. It was recognized as an exceptional record of early colonial New England settlement.","period_of_significance":"1600-1699","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the Ipswich Historical Society and operated as a house museum; moved in 1927 about one block from its original site, and restored in 1892 and in the 1950s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:59:33.631211-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/7936/63793669/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000791_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000791/0ea5e1870b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000791/0ea5e1870b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Frank O. Branzetti, Photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Whipple_House,_53_South_Main_Street,_Ipswich_(Essex_County,_Massachusetts).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Frank O. Branzetti, Photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Whipple_House,_53_South_Main_Street,_Ipswich_(Essex_County,_Massachusetts).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"80000471","name":"South Green Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/south-green-historic-district-80000471/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793669","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whipple_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6263758"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/whipple-john-house-66000791/"}